You've Crept Into My Heart
by Marriella Bullet
Summary: This story follows the adventures of Luke Skywalker. Starting at age five, and on into his teenage years, Luke Skywalker will face dangers like no other. In fact, Darth Vader is the least of his worries... finally complete!
1. A Tragedy of an Unknown Cause

**You've Crept Into My Heart**

**A Luke/Vader Star Wars Fan Fiction**

**A.N: The inspiration for this story came from watching Shrek2. It was that scene with Puss in the Boots, when he did that cute, little face with the big, helpless eyes, I wanted to see a child version of Luke Skywalker look so cute and helpless. So here's **_**another**_** story that I **_**promise**_** will be finished. It's going to be another one of my L/V stories.**

**Summery: When Owen and Beru Lars are killed, five year old Luke runs away and sneaks onto a ship heading to Kashyyyk. But Vader is bound to show up sometime, isn't he?**

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**Chapter One: A Tragedy of an Unknown Cause**

Five-year-old Luke Skywalker picked up his tools, and made his way back home. He had been checking the security fences, like he had to every morning.

"Hello, Luke!"

Luke turned around to see a speeder pull up beside him. In it were Fixer and his dad.

"Hello, Fixer. What are you doing here?"

Fixer got out of the speeder, and his father drove the rest of the way to the Lars Farm, leaving the boys to talk.

"My dad needed to come over and talk to your Uncle about something, and he said that I could come along. So… whatcha' doing?"

"I was just finishing up my chores."

Fixer snickered. "I was finished hours ago!"

"Good for you." Luke kicked the sand in front of him.

"Aw, you're thinking about you're father again, aren't you, Wormie?"

Uh-oh. Whenever Fixer said that, Luke knew he'd be in for it! "Fixer, I don't want to talk about that. He's dead, and that's all there is to it."

"Luke, did you ever wonder _why_ he's dead? He's dead because he committed suicide when you were born because he didn't want a child!"

"Shut up!"

Luke dropped the tools, and ran towards the house, and on to his room, while Fixer went to find Luke's Aunt and Uncle.

"Mr. and Mrs. Lars?" Owen, Beru, and Fixer's dad looked up at Fixer. "Luke yelled at me, and told me to shut up."

Owen stood up from the table. "Luke!" No answer. "Luke, get in here right now!"

A few minutes later, Luke came in, not looking at anybody.

"Luke, did you yell at Fixer?" Owen asked.

"He said that…"

"I don't care what he said! Did you yell at him?"

"Yes," Luke mumbled.

"Luke, I'm very disappointed in you! Go to your room, and don't you dare come out of it again today!"

As Luke made his way out of the room, he stole one look at Fixer. Fixer snickered, and Luke stuck out his tongue, and then ran out of the room

…

Later that night, Luke lay on his bed, doing some serious thinking. Everyone always told him that he thought too much, but Luke didn't care.

Fixer had said that Luke's father probably committed suicide as soon as Luke was born, because he didn't want a child. Was that true? Of course not! How would Fixer know anyway? Fixer knew nothing about Luke's father.

But then the reality hit him that Luke didn't know anything about his father either.

Why did his parents have to die? Yes, it was nice to live with Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, but it was his parents that he wanted. It was his parents that he _needed._ Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru didn't understand. The incident today proved that.

Luke buried his head in his pillow and wept quietly. He'd never be able to know his parents. He'd never be able to tell them that he loved them. He'd never be able to hear his parents say that they loved him too. If his parents were here, then _they_ would understand! They would tell Fixer to leave Luke alone.

Luke had always been a quiet child. He'd never really had any real friends except for Biggs. But Biggs was away at a boarding school, and Luke was feeling even lonelier.

Suddenly, Luke heard the sound of a blaster being shot, followed by his Aunt Beru's screaming! Luke couldn't move. He was frozen in his spot, until he heard a voice in his head.

"_Run, Luke, run!"_

He didn't have time to stop and think about where the voice had come from. Luke got up and threw himself out of his bedroom window, and landed on the cold sand.

Brushing the sand off of him, Luke began running out into the night, not daring to look back.

He didn't know where he was going. He only knew that he wanted to get as far away from the screaming and the blaster shots as possible. Luke wanted to lie down and rest, but he couldn't. Not just yet. Not… just… yet….

…

The next morning, Luke woke up to the sun beating down against his face. How did he get here? Then Luke remembered last night, and shuddered. Maybe he should go back and make sure Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen were alright.

One hour later, Luke finally sighted his Aunt and Uncle's farm. Right when Luke was about to go inside, he felt a scary sensation enter his mind. Luke shook it off, and made his way down the stairs, and on to Owen and Beru's room.

"Uncle Owen?" Luke's small voice called into the dark room. "Aunt Beru? Are you in here?"

Luke turned on the light switch, and he saw a sight to terrible for his young eyes. Blood was all over the place. On the floor, on the walls, and more frighteningly, on the dead bodies of his Aunt and Uncle. Their eyes were still open, and their mouths open as well, with blood coming out of them. Luke backed out of the room, his face betraying shear horror.

Who had done this? _Why_ had they done this? Where was Luke going to go now?

"Help me!" Luke cried out. He didn't know who he was calling out to, but he called out just the same. "Help! Where are you, father? I want my father!"

Luke collapsed on the floor and cried like he would never stop.

Darth Vader was in the middle of a conference when he heard it.

"_Help me! Help! Where are you, father? I want my father!"_

It was a child. A Force strong child! And he was calling out through the Force! Extraordinary. Who was this child? Maybe he should investigate this matter.

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To Be Continued…

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**A.N: So… do you guys think this story is any good? Should I continue? (I know, I always ask that question!) Please review!**


	2. Stow Away to Kashyyyk

**Chapter Two: Stow Away to Kashyyyk**

A few weeks later, Luke was hiding behind a barrel on a landing pad in Mos Eisley. He was waiting for the people loading the ship on the landing pad to look away or something so he could sneak aboard.

Ever since that night when his Aunt and Uncle had been murdered, Luke hadn't talked, or interacted with anyone. He'd made his way to Mos Eisley in the hopes that he could find a way off the planet. There was nothing for him here now.

It had taken Luke days to successfully get onto a landing pad without being noticed. Since he was so small, (even for a five year old,) he was able to finally work his size to his advantage. It was because of his small size that he was able to steal food without being seen. Luke had also observed that older people thought that he was cute. So Luke would sometimes make his eyes go wide with helplessness, and hold his upper body with his arms, and he'd been able to get food that way too.

"Ouch!" Luke whispered to himself.

His hand had scraped against something sticking out of the wall. It was black with a little glass thing in the middle. But Luke had no idea what it was, so he just forgot about it.

Now was his chance to get off this planet for good. Finally, the right moment came when no one was looking, and Luke made a break for the ship.

Luke wasn't able to relax until the ship had made the jump into hyperspace. After the jump, Luke rested his head on his hands, and leaned back. This was going to be a long trip. He might as well get comfortable.

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Meanwhile, back on Tatooine, Vader had just landed his shuttle, and made his way through the streets of Mos Eisley.

After much meditating, Vader had been able to see which planet the call that he'd heard through the Force had come from. He'd also been able to see a vision of the boy who's sent out the call. It had taken a lot of control for Vader to not lose his mind looking at the boy. He looked _exactly_ the way that Vader himself had looked when he'd been a boy. But it was impossible for the boy to be his. Wait… then why was he heading to the Lars' farm?

Vader had just decided to let the Force guide his steps as he thought, but this was the last place that he thought the Force would lead him. Well, he might as well look around since the place seemed to be deserted.

Vader walked through the door. His senses told him that someone had been here not so long ago. Strange.

He went on through the house, finding nothing. That is, he found nothing until he went into the master bedroom. It was then that he found out why the house appeared to be deserted. It was deserted because the owners were dead. Not just dead, but they appeared to have been murdered. There was blood all over the bodies. Who had done this?

For some reason, Vader felt an unexplainable need to search the rest of the house. Once again, he didn't find anything of great importance until he went into the next bedroom.

It was a bedroom belonging to a child. Had the Lars' had a child? Had the child been killed too? He hadn't found anymore bodies. Perhaps the child had escaped before he could be killed.

Suddenly, Vader heard someone outside.

"Luke!"

It was a child. Not the child Vader was looking for, but a child that maybe once knew the child he was looking for.

Vader walked outside, and when he got there, the boy outside froze. "Wha… what are y… you doing here?" the boy asked.

The boy was terrified. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. But Vader just had to know if this boy knew the Force strong boy.

"I'm looking for a boy around your age. Blonde hair, blue eyes, do you know him?"

The boy's eyes grew wide. "That's Luke!"

Luke? So was the boy who lived here Luke? Only one way to find out…

"Where does Luke live?"

"He used to live here. But a few weeks ago, someone murdered the Lars' and we can't find Luke."

"If you know Luke isn't here, then why were you calling his name just now?"

"I come here every day to see if he decided to come back."

"I see. Is Luke the Lars' son?"

Even though Fixer was scared, he couldn't help but laugh. Wormie being the _Lars'_ son? Now _that's_ a new one!

"What do you find amusing?" Vader asked.

"Nothing. But no, Luke is so not the Lars' son!"

Vader paused. Not the Lars' son? Then who was he? "What's his full name then?"

"Luke Skywalker."

Time froze, and Vader froze with it. Skywalker? Luke _Skywalker?_ Did that mean that the Lars' had been raising Vader's _son?_ Whose fault was this? How did his son end up here?

Without acknowledging the boy, Vader stood up and left. His son wasn't here, but it was obvious that Luke wasn't dead either, and Vader had to find him.

It had been five years since the downfall of the Republic, so his son would have to be five years old. Vader's five year old son was lost on this planet. This was NOT his day.

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_This is SO my day!_ Vader thought to himself later that day. He had found someone who had told him that Luke had last been seen at docking bay 37. So Vader had made his way to the docking bay, and found the security room, where the people in there had no objections to Vader looking at the security recordings. In fact, they had all vacated the room shortly after Vader had arrived.

There were five cameras in each docking bay. Three on the top of the walls, and two at the very bottom of the walls. The first one that Vader looked at shocked him.

It was the camera on the side closest to the door, on the very bottom of the wall, about one foot from touching the floor. Right next to the camera was his son! Apparently, his son had been sitting right next to the camera.

It was at the perfect angle. His son was sitting close enough to it so that Vader could make out his face, but far enough from it so that he wasn't pushing the camera into the wall.

It looked like his son was doing some thinking. His son's face was dirty, and his clothes were in the same condition. How long had Luke been looking after himself?

Suddenly, his son's hand banged against the camera, and the screen went blank. Had Luke discovered the security camera? Or had it just been an accident?

Vader switched to another camera to see the rest of what happened. He was horrified to see his son climb aboard the ship when no one was looking, and then the ship took off! Now his five year old son could be anywhere in the galaxy! This was NOT his day!

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When the ship finally landed on Kashyyyk, Luke got off the ship, and ran off into the woods where no one would find him.

It had been a long trip, and Luke was happy to finally be able to stretch his legs. He ran for a long time, and he lost all sense of direction. It was nearing nightfall, and he had no where to sleep.

Suddenly, there was a roar behind him. Frightened, Luke quickly whirled around to see who it was.

It was a Wookiee. A big, furry, ferocious looking Wookiee. Luke put on his cutest face, and looked up at the Wookiee pleadingly.

Achabacciac stopped roaring, and looked at the human curiously. The little one was so small, and helpless. He wasn't like those Imperials. _That_ was for sure!

Achabacciac picked up the boy, and cuddled him against his chest. The boy leaned into the Wookiee, and soon fell sound asleep.

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To Be Continued…

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**A.N: Alright, I did my part and got the chapter up. Now you need to do your part and review! So review or else! (Or else what?) I don't know! I just said that for effect!**


	3. Welcoming Into Family, and a New Mystery

**A.N: Well, thanks for all the enthusiastic reviews, you guys! It's because of all the reviews I'm getting, that I update this story so quickly. You see how it works? You review, you get faster updates.**

**Chapter Three: Welcoming Into a Family, and a New Mystery **

When Luke woke up, he found himself lying on a soft, but ruggedly made bed, with a large, brown rag for a blanket. Where was he? Oh, right. The Wookiee had found him last night. He must have brought Luke home with him.

Achabacciac and two other Wookiees sat next to the bed that the little human was sleeping on. The three Wookiees were all still teenagers, and they were still wondering what to do with the boy.

/I want to keep him,/ Cachiecae, a female Wookiee, said. /Look at him. He's so _cute!/_

/We noticed that,/ Baccichith, one of the males, said. /But we don't know anything about him. He may have a family that misses him./

Cachiecae snorted. /If he had a family, then Achabacciac wouldn't have found him all alone in the forest! He's obviously an orphan./

Achabacciac decided to cut in. /Look, I'm the one who found him, so I get to decide what we do with him, and I say that we keep him./

/Yay!/ Cachiecae cheered. A sudden movement from the human made her calm down.

/Shh. He's waking up,/ Baccichith said.

The human rubbed his eyes sleepily, making him look even more adorable, and then he raised his big blue eyes up to see who it was who was standing over him. His eyes widened for a second, seeing the big towering bodies of the Wookiees, then he buried his head in his pillow, and started crying.

/Oh no!/ Cachiecae exclaimed. /We've scared the poor little thing! Does anyone speak his language?/

/None of us here,/ Baccichith said. /We'll have to go get Kachabacca./

/You go get him, we'll stay here,/ Achabacciac said.

Baccichith got up and left the house, leaving the other two alone with the little human.

Cachiecae couldn't stand it any longer, and she picked up the boy, cradling, and trying to comfort him. After a minute, the human stopped crying, and looked up at Cachiecae with trusting and appreciating eyes.

/Aw… he likes me!/ Cachiecae exclaimed happily.

/No fair. _I _was the one who found him! Why doesn't he like me?/

/I don't know. Maybe he likes you and you just don't know it./

Achabacciac thought about this for a second. /Can I have a turn holding him?/

/No! I haven't held him that long yet./

/Give me a turn!/

/No!/

/Come on, share!/

/In a second!/

/Come on, I found him! Let me hold him! Please?/

/Fine. Here you go,/ Cachiecae said, handing Luke to Achabacciac. /Hold him carefully./

/I _am_ holding him carefully./

There was silence for a minute as the two admired the adorable human, but finally, Cachiecae broke the silence.

/What do you think we should call him?/

Achabacciac paused. /I don't know. What do you think would be a good name?/

/Well… I was thinking something like Sunshine./

Achabacciac almost coughed. /_Sunshine!?_ What kind of name is that!?/

/Well, his hair is the color of sunshine. It's an appropriate name for him./

Achabacciac considered the name for a moment. /Alright. Sunshine it is. I guess the name isn't _that_ bad./

Suddenly, the door opened, and Baccichith came back in, followed closely Kachabacca, an older Wookiee.

/I got him!/ Baccichith declared.

/We noticed,/ Cachiecae said. /Kachabacca, look at what Achabacciac found last night!/

Kachabacca studied the human in Achabacciac's arms for a minute, then turned back at the other three. /Has he said anything?/

/No,/ Achabacciac said. /He's only cried a little. We wanted you to talk to him since we can't./

/I see. Put him on the bed./

Achabacciac did as he was told, and Kachabacca turned to speak to him. "Hello, little one."

The boy looked startled for a second, probably because he was surprised that the Wookiee was speaking his language. "He… hello. Who are you?"

"I'm Kachabacca. Who are you?"

"I'm Luke."

"Well, Luke, what is a young human like you doing here all alone?"

"I wanted to get off my home planet."

"You were running away from your family?"

Luke punched his little fists together indignantly. "Of course not! My family's dead. They were murdered, and I had no reason to stay."

Kachabacca stopped to digest the news. So the boy was an orphan. "Well, if you have no home right now, would you like to stay here? These three have taken a liking to you, and I think it would make them very happy if they were allowed to keep you."

Luke liked the idea. These Wookiees were friendly, and Luke had decided that he liked them. "I guess I'd like to stay."

"Good." Kachabacca turned to the others to translate what he had just learned. /He says that he's an orphan, and he'd like to stay./

/Yay!/ Cachiecae said. /We get to keep Sunshine!/

Kachabacca paused. /By the way, his name is Luke./

/Oh. Well, I'm still going to call him Sunshine!/

Kachabacca turned to Luke. "These three want to call you Sunshine. Is that okay?"

"Sunshine? Hmm… I guess I wouldn't mind if they called me that."

"Alright then, Sunshine. Welcome to Kashyyyk."

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Meanwhile, back on Tatooine, Vader was making his way back to his shuttle. After some inquiring, he'd been able to discover where the ship that left with his son was heading to. Kashyyyk.

That was actually a good thing, because the Emperor had put it on Vader's 'to do' list, to take over Kashyyyk, and find a suitable place for the Wookiees in the Empire. Namely, slaves. Vader hadn't wanted it to be slaves. Once being a slave, he knew what it felt like, but orders were orders. So now Vader was going to kill two birds with one stone. Retrieve his son, _and_ take over Kashyyyk.

But what was he going to _do _with his son once he found him? Luke was only five. That was good. If Vader had found Luke when Luke was older, and then it would have been difficult. Luke would be thinking for himself, and maybe resist capture.

At five, there was very little that Luke could do to escape. Much less, resist capture. True, Luke would be frightened, but that could be managed. Just as soon as he had the child. And that would indeed, be very soon.

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Obi-Wan Kenobi watched Vader's shuttle lift off the planet and make it's way to the Executor. As soon as it was out of sight, and in lightspeed, Obi-Wan lifted off in his own ship.

He too, was heading to Kashyyyk. And for the same reason. To get Luke. It was more important then ever to make sure that Vader didn't get Luke. If Vader got Luke, then Luke would certainly be trained in the ways of the Dark Side of the Force, and Obi-Wan just couldn't let that happen.

When the Lars' were murdered, Obi-Wan had tried to get to the house before Luke could be killed as well. He wasn't killed, but neither was he at the house. Obi-Wan had made it to the next farm house, and not finding Luke, he'd gone on to Ancorhead. Once again, still too late, he'd gone to Mos Eisley. And, still, he hadn't found out where Luke was until it was in fact too late.

Obi-Wan still looked quite young. After all, it had only been five years since that fateful day when Anakin had turned to the Dark Side. Why didn't Anakin just come to him. He knew that he could always trust Obi-Wan. Or did he?

That didn't matter now. Anakin was lost, and all that remained was an inhuman robot.

"Blast it," Obi-Wan muttered.

Things could have been different, but no. What had happened had happened, and there was no way to change it. He had a job to do. He had to ensure Luke's safety.

WAIT! The Lars' had never done anything to anyone. They didn't have anything that _anyone_ would want. Then why had they been murdered? It was becoming all to clear to Obi-Wan. The murderer had been after Luke, and if he had been after Luke, then he would be back. Yes. The murderer would strike again. How much time did Obi-Wan have to get Luke? Or did he have any time at all?

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To Be Continued…

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**A.N: Look at what I've done for you guys! I've given you something to think about! Review, and you'll discover the answers even faster than you think!**

**Only if you review. How much time to you have to review? Or do you have anytime at all?**


	4. Acting Like Anakin

**Chapter Four: Acting Like Anakin**

About a day later, Vader arrived with his fleet on Kashyyyk. The shuttles, carrying the troopers landed, and Vader came out with them. He'd told them to secure the Wookiees, but be on the lookout for a small, human boy, and that the boy was not to be harmed, but brought to Vader immediately.

Despite Vader's confidence in his storm troopers, he had wanted to come down and look for Luke personally. Something as precious as his child could not be trusted to the harsh troopers.

It was near the middle of the night, so most of the Wookiees would be sleeping, therefore, unaware of what was happening until it was too late.

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Achabacciac awoke with a start to the sound of blaster fire. What was going on? Wookiees didn't use blasters, so there was only one explanation left; they were under attack!

Achabacciac stood up, ran to the bed next to his, where Sunshine was sleeping, and picked him up gently, making sure that he didn't wake him up. If Sunshine woke up, he'd just be scared.

The sound of the door opening caused Achabacciac to roar violently. But when he saw that it was just Cachiecae, and Baccichith, he relaxed.

/Achabac!/ Cachiecae exclaimed. /Come on, we've got to go! The Empire is attacking us!/

/The Empire?/

/Yeah,/ Baccichith confirmed. /We'll explain it on the way. Right now, we've got to move it!/

Achabac followed the other two out of the house, still holding the sleeping Luke in his arms. He knew where they were headed. There was a little secret hiding place that the Wookiees had, hidden in one of the big trees. It had some ships, just in case something like this happened, and the Wookiees needed to get off the planet quickly.

/Hurry up, Baccich!/ Cachiecae said to Baccichith, who had fallen behind.

/I'm going as fast as I can, Cachie! Don't rush me!/

Soon they would be at the ships, if all went well.

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Obi-Wan arrived on Kashyyyk about half an hour after the attack had begun. As soon as he landed, he made his way to the Wookiee's hiding place for ships. Master Yoda had told him where it was back during the fall of the Old Republic.

Since Obi-Wan couldn't climb like the Wookiees could, and he didn't dare use the Force because Vader was on the planet, he arrived at the hiding place a split second too late to get to Luke before he was able to get off the planet. He got there right when the ship with Luke was lifting off.

"No! Wait!" Either the pilot couldn't see him, or they thought that it was too much of a risk to let the ship down, and all Obi-Wan could do was watch the ship leave. "Blast it! Late again! I'm beginning to behave like Anakin!"

A Sudden commotion on the other side of the platform, drew Obi-Wan's attention away from the leaving ship.

It was a couple of storm troopers trying to contain a maddened Wookiee. Obi-Wan wanted to help the Wookiee, but he also wanted to go after Luke, so he was torn.

"Alright, Obi-Wan, you must make a decision. On one hand, if you help the Wookiee, you will be able to get a friend who may assist you in getting Luke back. On the other hand, if you help him out, you'll have to use the Force, and it would be dangerous to use the Force considering that Vader is on the planet." Speaking to himself didn't help. Obi-Wan knew what he was going to end up doing. "Okay, time to go blindly into a rescue mission. Now I _know_ that I'm acting like Anakin!"

Igniting his lightsaber, Obi-Wan made his way to where to scuffle was taking place. The troopers stopped when they saw the Jedi approaching them.

"Hello there!"

With that, he plunged his lightsaber into the closest trooper, and, blocking blaster fire now coming from the other troops, he commenced with the rescue, and killed the other four troopers within three minutes.

"Troopers these days," Obi-Wan said, shaking his head in disapproval at the now dead troops. "They have no idea how to fight!"

The Wookiee that Obi-Wan just rescued ran up to him in gratitude.

/Thank you so much! You saved my life!/

"No problem. I used to do this all the time."

/You can't say that! What you just did deserves a reward!/

Obi-Wan waved his hands in protest. "No, no, I don't need any reward!"

/Yes you do! I owe you a life debt!/

"No, that's really not necessary!" Obi-Wan said. He knew what a life debt among Wookiees was.

/Yes it is! Where you go, I go!/

"Very well. We need to get to a ship to begin with."

/Come on, I have one over here!/

The Wookiee led Obi-Wan to the last remaining ship, and nearly pushed him aboard, and then led him to the cockpit.

/Hold on! This is going to be a little rough!/

"I was afraid you'd say that!"

After a quick exchange of gunfire, witch was surprisingly short, Obi-Wan and the Wookiee made the jump into hyperspace.

"Well, thank you!" Obi-Wan said after they were safe. "By the way, I never caught your name! I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi. Who are you?"

/My name is Chewbacca./

Obi-Wan threw his head back, startled. "Chewbacca? You were the one who rescued Master Yoda that day that the clones turned on us!"

Chewie turned to the Jedi in interest. /You know Master Yoda?/

"Of course I do! He was a wonderful mentor, and a good friend."

/I'm honored to meet a friend of Master Yoda's./

"Well, I'm honored to meet the Wookiee who rescued him. So… I guess we're even, huh?"

/Sure, we're even. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to help you./

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Obi-Wan asked, grinning.

/That means that I'm going to stick with you and help you with whatever you need help with. You are a friend of Yoda's, and I will always want to help him and his friends./

"Well, that's very kind of you, Chewbacca, thanks. Now, if you don't mind, I think I'll go to one of the bunks and take a little nap."

Chewie watched the young Jedi master leave the cockpit. At least, he assumed that Obi-Wan was young. He didn't look any older than perhaps thirty-five. But it didn't matter how old Obi-Wan was. Chewie was just happy that he could help him.

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You couldn't explain Vader's anger when he felt Luke leave the planet. How could this happen to him!? He had been so close to getting his son, and now he was gone! Life could be so cruel sometimes!

The only bright side was that most of the Wookiees had been kept from escaping the planet. The few that _had_ been able to leave the planet had obviously taken Luke with them. Vader would have to report back to the Emperor, and tell him that Kashyyyk had been secured. But not right now. Vader was too angry to speak to anyone.

Maybe that's why the first five officers that approached Vader after that were killed without mercy.

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When Luke woke up, he could tell that he wasn't on Kashyyyk anymore. It was too cold. It was cold enough for Luke to know that they were in space. Why hadn't anyone told him that they were leaving the planet?

Luke stood up, and went to find one of his Wookiee friends to find out what had happened. The Wookiees had learned how to understand Luke a little, and Luke could understand them if they simply shook or nodded their head to answer his questions.

"Achabac!" Luke said, seeing the oldest of the three Wookiees. "What happened? Were we attacked or something?" Achabac nodded. "Was it the Empire?" Achabac nodded again. "I hate the Empire!" Luke declared. Achabac roared his agreement.

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To Be Continued…

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**A.N: I am so enthused to update this story! You guys are just giving me so many reviews! Keep it up!**


	5. Evil Plans and New Allies

**A.N: I just want to say that the feedback I've been getting is awesome! Thank you everyone for staying so interested in this story!**

**Chapter Five: Evil Plans and New Allies**

The Emperor was not in one of his best moods today. He'd finally gotten word back from the bounty hunter he'd hired, Boba Fett that he'd failed in killing young Luke Skywalker and now it seemed that Vader knew about Skywalker too.

A few months ago, he'd discovered a Force presence on Tatooine, and he ordered one of his spies to investigate. Upon discovering that the Force sensitive was Anakin Skywalker's son, he'd hired a bounty hunter to kill the boy off, so no one would be able to link the murder back to him.

Indeed, no one had been able to link it back to him yet, but if Vader was looking for his offspring, then he was sure to find out sooner or later. Then, Vader wouldn't trust the Emperor, and Palpatine would have to get a new apprentice. But where the heck do you get one of those?

It was then that Palpatine first contemplated the idea. If Vader succeeded in getting young Skywalker, he was bound to bring him back here. Then, the Emperor could simply kill Vader, and then, he'd have a much younger, much better apprentice.

Wait… what if Vader didn't plan to bring his son back to Imperial Center? What if he was planning to keep him a secret? Vader may try hiding his son away from Palpatine, and then, he would never get a newer apprentice! Maybe he should call Boba Fett back.

The Emperor pulled his comlink closer to his hands, and typed in the bounty hunter's frequency. It was answered immediately.

"Fett here."

"Fett, do you want a chance to redeem yourself after your disgraceful failure back on Tatooine?"

"You wish me to find Skywalker and try to kill him again?"

The Emperor chuckled. "No, no, nothing like that. I want you to find Skywalker, but stay in the background, and don't let anyone know that you're watching. Update me every now and then about where they are, and who's with them. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand, and I won't fail you this time. Fett out."

Palpatine turned off his own comlink, and stared into space, making his plans.

Once he had a location on Skywalker, he could wait until Fett reported back that Vader had the boy, and then, the Emperor would see what Vader did. If Vader came back, bringing the boy with him, that was fine. But if Vader decided that he wanted to hide the boy from Palpatine, Fett, would simply tell the Emperor where Skywalker was, and he'd go there, kill his apprentice, and bring back the boy as his new apprentice. No big deal.

Suddenly, the Emperor was in one of his best moods.

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Luke looked at one of the screens in the cockpit, trying to find out where they were going. But he didn't know how to read, so it was kind of difficult for him to do that.

Cachie looked at Sunshine fondly. He was standing on his tiptoes trying to read the destination screens. Poor little human! He couldn't find out where they were going.

/What's wrong, Cachie?/ Baccich asked.

/Sunshine doesn't know where we're going. He's trying to read the screens, but he's not having much success./

/Where _are _we going, by the way?/

/Alderaan. I thought you already knew./

/Whatever./

Finally, Luke gave up trying to find out where they were going. It was impossible to even get up there just to _read_ the screens. Much less, find out what they meant! Anyway, he'd find out where they were going when they got there. In the meantime, he could find something else to do. Maybe he'd get himself something to eat…

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Achabac was walking to the cockpit when he thought he smelled smoke coming from the galley. Deciding to investigate, he went in that direction, and opened the door. The sight that met his eyes was a disaster!

There was thick smoke all in the room, making it hard to see. Once he got used to seeing through the smoke, he saw five pots, and steaming, and the things inside burning! Meanwhile, Sunshine was swinging from a rope attached to the ceiling, trying to stay away from the burning food, and the smoke.

Suddenly, the door behind him opened, and Cachie and Baccich came rushing in.

/What happened!?/ Baccich exclaimed.

/I don't know! Cachie, take care of the burning stuff, Baccich, find a way to get rid of the smoke!/

While the other two went off to do their assigned tasks, Achabac tried to get Sunshine. Since the little human was swinging back and forth, it was hard to get hold of him, but finally, Achabac succeeded in grabbing hold of the child's body, and detaching his hands from the rope. Then, Achabac, carrying Luke, ran out of the galley.

Sunshine was coughing horribly, and crying when he finally got them to the ships' living space.

At that moment, the others came out of the galley to see how the young boy was doing.

/Oh my! Why is he crying!?/ Cachie asked, rushing up to Sunshine, and picking him up in her arms, rocking him back and forth.

/I think all the smoke and the fire scared him./

_I can never do anything right!_ Luke thought to himself. _And now I just made a big mess for them to clean. I'm nothing but an unwanted problem. They don't understand me. They don't even understand me when I'm talking! No one cares about me! I just want to die!_

Well, that wasn't exactly true. Luke knew that his Wookiee friends cared about him, but they just didn't understand his needs. Luke _needed_ someone who could understand him. But all he had was three, overly protective Wookiee nursemaids.

/We'd better stop somewhere and get some more food. Sunshine just burned it all up,/ Achabac said.

/Right,/ Baccich agreed. /I'll go see where the closest planet is./

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"How do we know for sure that their heading to Corellia?" Obi-Wan asked Chewie.

They were sitting in the ships' living space, playing some weird board game, trying to keep themselves from getting board.

/All Wookie escape ships having tracking devices, so we can track each other in case we get lost./

"Clever idea. It's your move."

Chewie was about to focus back on the board game when suddenly, the ship came out of lightspeed.

/We're entering the system. Come on./

Obi-Wan followed Chewie to the cockpit, and sat down in the copilot's chair.

"Look! There's the other ship!"

/Yes. They're already landing. I'll try to land next to their ship./

Unfortunately, there were no spare landing pads close to the other ship, so they had to settle for another landing pad that was a few blocks away.

"Hurry! We've got to get to their ship before they leave it."

Obi-Wan and Chewie ran out of their own ship, and made their way to the other landing pad. Just as Obi-Wan had feared, they had already left their ship by the time Obi-Wan arrived.

/What do we do now?/ Chewie asked.

"We have to go find them!"

/Say what? Listen, we _can_ just wait for them to come back here to their ship./

"No, we can't do that. There are other people looking for Luke. We have to get to him first!"

/Very well./ While Obi-Wan and Chewie walked through the streets of Corellia, Chewie began to get curious about something. /May I ask _who_ are we trying beat to Luke?/

Obi-Wan sighed. Chewbacca might as well know. "Darth Vader is also interested in Luke."

Chewie snorted with laughter. /Please, Obi-Wan! I'm not _that_ gullible!/

"It's true!"

Chewie finally saw that this wasn't a jock. /Yikes./

"My thoughts exactly."

They kept on walking in silence when suddenly, someone pushed Chewie out of the streets.

"Look out!"

One second later, a blaster bolt whizzed by the spot that Chewie had been standing. The teenager who had pushed Chewie brought out his own blaster, and shot in the direction of the bolt. When the danger had passed, Chewie got back on his feet, and regarded the boy in gratitude.

/Thank you. You saved my life./

"You're welcome. From now on, be more careful of drunk people having shootouts with each other."

"We're much obliged to you. What's your name?"

The boy adopted a sense of bravado. "Solo. Han Solo, at your service."

"How old are you, Han?"

"I turned fifteen a few weeks ago."

"Really?" Suddenly, Chewie drew Obi-Wan aside, and whispered to him. When Chewie was finished, Obi-Wan turned back to Han. "Well, young Solo, are you in need of a bodyguard?"

Han cocked his head to one side. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you're about to get one. Chewie here says that he owes you a life debt since you just saved his life."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Does that mean I can come with you guys?"

"Why do you want to come with us?"

Han sighed. "I've been trying to get off this planet _forever!_ And you guys seem nice enough to travel with."

"Look, if you come with us, you have to promise that you can fold easily under pressure."

Han perked up. "Pressure? What kind of pressure?"

"Pressure that only Darth Vader can give."

"Why didn't you say so earlier? Let's go!"

Obi-Wan laughed. "Hold on a second! First, we must find our other friends."

"Where are they?"

/Up there!/ Chewie exclaimed.

Obi-Wan and Han turned to look at the sky, just in time for them to see the ship with Luke leave the planet.

"Blast it! Come on, guys. Here we go again!"

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**A.N: Another chapter is up! Now, 3… 2… 1… review! **


	6. A Quiet Day Full of Contemplations

**Chapter Six: A Quiet Day –Considering that the other days were totally exciting**

Luke sat in the main room on the ship, which he had now found out, was called the Hyperstreak. He had been banned from the galley, and he didn't have a lot to do.

As usual when Luke was tired, he was thinking about his father. Yes, he liked the Wookiees, but they couldn't understand a word he said, much less, understand that all Luke wanted was a home with a real family. His family. But then, that was something that he would never have.

Luke liked to imagine what his family would have been like. His mother would have been the most beautiful woman in the universe. She'd be kind, make him cookies, and tuck him in bed every night.

His father would have been an awesome warrior. He'd be tall, good looking, and he'd take Luke to all the coolest places in the galaxy. His father would stand up for Luke when someone picked on him, and he'd tell the bullies to get lost.

Sometimes, Luke pretended that he had a brother or sister. If he had a brother, it would be an older brother that looked out for Luke, and made sure that he never got hurt. If Luke had a sister, it would be a little sister that looked like his mother.

After he'd established his family in his mind, Luke would visit them, and talk to them. The person that Luke liked to talk to the most was his father.

Of course, Luke knew that this was all in his imagination, but it made him feel better when he was lonely.

This time, in his mind, Luke and his father were playing hide-and-seek. Luke tried to imagine green pastures, lakes, trees and waterfalls. This was his favorite place to play……

"_Father? Where are you?" Luke called. His father was hiding somewhere, and it was Luke's turn to be the seeker. "You know that I'm going to find you! Come on out!"_

Suddenly, and voice that was _definitely _not coming from Luke's imagination spoke.

"_Here I am, Luke."_

Luke gasped. _"Father?"_

"_Yes, it's me, Son. Are you surprised?"_

"_Father! Are you real? Are you alive?"_

_His father laughed. "Of course I'm alive. I've been looking for you."_

"_You have?"_

"_Yes. Where are you?"_

"_I'm in a ship. Where are you?"_

"_I'm in a ship as well. So where is your ship headed?"_

"_I don't know. I can't understand what the Wookiees say, and they can't understand me either."_

"_You're with the Wookiees?"_

"_Yes. Are you going to get me?"_

"_I want to, Son, but you keep running away from me, and I can't find you."_

"_I'm sorry, Father. If I stopped the ship, would you find me?"_

"_No, I wouldn't want you to try to stop the ship. You might break something."_

"_No one thinks I can do anything," Luke complained._

"_Son, I think that you can do anything. You just have to believe that what you are doing is right."_

"_Huh?"_

"_If you're doing the right thing, then nothing can stop you."_

"_Really?"_

"_Yes. Now, I want you to find out where you're going. As soon as you know, I want you to tell me. Okay?"_

"_But how will I be able to talk to you again?"_

"_I'll always be listening for your calls. I must go now, child. Remember what I said."_

"_I'll remember, Father."_

Before Luke could stop him, his father was gone.

Luke opened his eyes, and looked around to get his bearings. Right, he remembered. He was in the Hyperstreak, and Luke needed to find out where they were going so he could tell his father.

Luke stood up, and made his way to the cockpit, intent on finding out where they were this time.

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Vader was probably in the best mood that he'd been in, in years. He'd finally made contact with his young son, and gained his trust.

Too bad that Luke didn't know where he was going. If he'd known, then Vader would be on his way right now. But Luke was going to find out soon enough, and then he was sure to report back to him, and Vader would come as fast as he could to claim his son.

Luke's ability to use the Force was amazing, considering how young his son was. Luke had inherited his Force sensitivity, that was for sure. If trained properly, Luke could make a powerful sith. When he was older, of course.

Vader still didn't know what to do about his master. Palpatine would need to know about this. But what would he think if Vader brought home a new apprentice. Would the Emperor think that Vader was planning to overthrow him? Yes, Vader _was_ actually planning to overthrow him, but no one knew about that yet, did they?

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"Han, please don't touch that," Obi-Wan said, when he saw young Solo pick up his lightsaber, which Obi-Wan had put down on the game table earlier.

But Han didn't listen to him and his pressed the button that ignited the blue blade.

"Wow! So you're a Jedi, huh?"

"Yes, I am, actually," Obi-Wan said, reaching for the saber.

"Wait, I wanna swing it around a couple times! Couldn't you at least teach me how to use it?"

"A lightsaber is not a toy. Especially not my lightsaber!"

"I'm responsible! Can you teach me how to fight with one? Please?"

Obi-Wan looked at his lightsaber, then back at Han. He wasn't too gifted in the Force, and he'd never make a good Jedi, but they had nothing else to do.

"Very well, but you won't use my lightsaber!"

"You mean you have another?" Han asked hopefully.

"Of course I do."

Obi-Wan went back to the bunkroom, and went through his bag. There he found Anakin's old lightsaber, as he knew he would. Maybe he'd let Han use it as long as Obi-Wan was watching the entire time.

Finally, Obi-Wan emerged from the bunkroom, carrying the extra lightsaber.

"Here you go, Han. I'm only going to let you use this while I'm in the room, is that clear?"

"Crystal clear. So how do ya' use it?" Han asked, picking it up, and igniting the blade.

"Alright, hold it with two hands. No, don't stand like that. Stand it attack position……"

Soon, Obi-Wan was engrossed in a long training session that he'd been through countless times with Anakin when he was Han's age.

It felt like the old days, to be training someone again. Even if the person he was training was not the most talented person in the galaxy, as Anakin had been. Too bad Anakin had known that he was so gifted. He might have actually listened when Obi-Wan had been training him.

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Boba Fett knew he was in trouble now. He still couldn't find out where the Wookiees had gone after Corellia. The Emperor would not be happy if he couldn't even find his quarry to begin with.

Fett didn't like the Emperor. Fett didn't like people in general, unless they had a bounty and a lot of credits for him. Now that he actually thought about it, he'd never really had any friends. Back when he was a kid, there were only clones, that hadn't developed a personality like Fett had. And later, when he grew up, he'd become a bounty hunter, and bounty hunters didn't have friends, because your friend could be your next bounty, but sometimes, Fett got a little lonely.

No one ever knew, but sometimes, Fett wanted to just throw away the armor, and start a whole new life. He liked thinking about what his life would be like if he had a family. A wife and maybe a kid. But then, he thought about his 'father,' and how he'd died. If he had a family, maybe they'd get killed too, and then he really be depressed.

No, Fett would never have a family. He'd always be a bounty hunter. At least this way, he'd never have any emotional attachments that could ruin his life.

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To Be Continued…

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**Chapter Seven Preview – Everyone gets to Alderaan, and eventually, they'll all meet up.**

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**A.N: Sorry** **for such a short, not-full-of-action chapter. It was necessary to build on the emotions of the characters. Please review! **


	7. Meetings At Alderaan

**A.N: Sorry for such a long wait. I've been updating all my stories back on FictionPress, updating my website... well, you get the idea. So I've been very busy, not to mention that I still do school work these days. Well, enjoy chapter seven!**

**Chapter Seven: Meetings At Alderaan **

Luke wanted to cry. His one chance to help his father totally didn't work out. When the Wookiees saw him crawling all over the buttons, they'd banned him from the cockpit. How was he supposed to tell his father where he was if he didn't even know where he was to begin with?

Luke suddenly noticed a difference in the atmosphere. They were landing! Now he could find out where he was!

……………………………………………………………………………………………...

"Okay, we're now only twenty minutes away from Alderaan!" Obi-Wan declared.

"Yes!" Han cheered. "Now I can really get out and do my new moves!"

"Uh-uh!" Obi-Wan said, shaking his finger at Han. "I told you that you can't use a lightsaber in public. Not to mention, that lightsaber isn't yours. Anyway, you can't use it anymore after that incident last night!"

Han gasped. "You really meant it?"

Obi-Wan gave a mock gasp. "Yes, I really did."

"But me and that lightsaber go together!"

"No, you and your blaster go together. This lightsaber belongs to someone else."

"Who?" Han asked, curiously.

"The person we're trying to find."

Han gasped. Obi-Wan had told him about Luke, the kid they were after.

"No fair! How come a five-year-old kid gets to have a lightsaber, and I can't?"

Obi-Wan sighed. "Because this lightsaber was handed down by his now-dead father. Luke needs something to remember his father by."

"Oh. Okay, whatever!" Han paused, and looked out the cockpit window. "Hay, look, we're landing!"

"Good."

Obi-Wan sat down in the pilots' chair, while Han sat in the chair behind Chewie.

At last, they were going to get Luke. Obi-Wan had no idea what he was to do with Luke once he found him. Vader knew about Luke now, so there really wasn't anything to do but hide Luke away somewhere for the rest of his life, but that seemed a bit extreme.

Obi-Wan wished more than anything that he didn't have to keep father and son apart. Oh, how he wished that he could just take Luke and give him to his father without any worries about Luke growing up to be some sort of monster.

Why did Anakin have to turn to the Dark Side? Why didn't he just tell Obi-Wan everything? Did he think that Obi-Wan would turn his back on him? Did he think that Obi-Wan wouldn't help? Gosh, they had practically been brothers! Why didn't Anakin see that what he was doing was wrong? Didn't he know that he was killing Padme by becoming so evil?

_I thought Anakin had been smarter than that, but I was wrong. I didn't see what was happening until it was too late._

Obi-Wan shook his head at himself in disapproval. It hadn't been Anakin's fault. It was Obi-Wan's fault more than anyone else's. If only he hadn't gone to find General Grievous. Then he would have been with Anakin when it happened. Yes, that way, he would have been able to do something about…

"Obi-Wan, are you _trying_ to crash us!?" Han's voice came, followed by a growl or two from Chewie.

Obi-Wan focused back on his piloting. Anakin had been able to think and pilot at the same time, but the same could not be said for Obi-Wan.

All this thinking about the mistakes he'd made in the past wasn't going to help him here anyway. He needed to focus on finding Luke. If he was right, Luke had arrived here ten minutes before them.

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As soon as they landed, one of the Wookiees had picked Luke up before they left the ship. Luke was grateful for that. He'd never be able to keep up with the Wookiees if he had to walk!

What was so frustrating for Luke was that he _still_ didn't know where they were. If only the Wookiees could understand what Luke was saying. Then they could just tell him where they were.

Luke looked around to see what this new planet looked like. It was so pretty! They were in a city of some sort. Up ahead, he could see a palace, and way in the distance, he saw mountains. Luke had never seen a mountain before, nor had he ever seen a place so beautiful.

The towns and cities back on Tatooine where dirty and ugly. But this city was so clean and nice looking. All the white buildings just added to the city's charm.

Luke found himself grinning for the first time in days. If only he'd been born _here_. This would be a fun place to live, and all the people looked so _nice_. They'd smile at him, and one lady even said hello.

Luke hoped that the Wookiees were planning to stay here a very long time. This was one of the best days in his life.

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Now Luke wouldn't have thought that this was one of the best days of his life if he'd known that at that very moment, Boba Fett was only half an hour away from Alderaan. Yes, Fett was on his way, and he meant business. The Emperor had told him to find the boy, watch him, and report back to the Emperor if anything unusual or important happened.

That Emperor was so darn rich! Palpatine didn't deserve to be so wealthy, much less rule the entire galaxy. All Palps ever did was sit in a comfy chair and give orders to suckers who didn't know any better but to obey.

Fett checked his status to see that he was now only twenty minutes away. Something in the back on his mind was telling him that there was something more to this. What was so special about that kid anyway? He was only five. Only FIVE! What would the Emperor care about a little five-year-old?

Well, it looked like he was about to find out in exactly nineteen minutes. Wow! Another minute had passed!

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"Obi-Wan, sir, what are you doing?" Han asked, when he saw him close his eyes, and stand very still.

"I'm reaching out with the Force so I can locate Luke."

Han turned to Chewie. "Okay, I'm severely freaked out."

Chewie growled his agreement. Fighting with sabers was fairly normal, but 'reaching out' to find someone was just plain weird.

"I've got him!" Obi-Wan said, grinning triumphantly.

"Good for you. So where do we go?"

"Follow me. He's only a few blocks ahead of us now."

Han turned back to Chewie. "As I said; freaky."

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Alderaan! That's where they were! Luke had just heard someone say that they were on Alderaan.

Luke smiled. Now he could tell his father where he was! How did that trick go again? Reach out, try to imagine talking to his father…

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Vader was frustrated. No, he was more then frustrated. He'd had been having a terrible time getting along with the officers, and on top of that, they were still just hanging over Kashyyyk, and Vader had no idea where Luke was!

Suddenly, he felt a ripple in the Force. It was Luke! Maybe Luke was trying to tell him where he was!

"_Son?"_

"_Father! I know where I am!"_

Vader smiled. At last! He would find his son!

"_Where are you?"_

"_I'm on Alderaan! We just landed about twenty minutes ago. Are you going to come get me now?"_

"_Yes, child. I'm coming for you. Let me know if those Wookiees take you somewhere else."_

"_Okay."_

With that, Vader broke the connection. He would like to keep talking to his son, but he had some things to do. With any luck, he should be arriving on Alderaan in a few days.

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Boba Fett finished landing the Slave I, and checked to make sure that he had everything. After all, having lots of cool gadgets was half the fun of being a bounty hunter.

After his final check, he walked out of the ship, and into the streets. That Skywalker kid should be around here somewhere. Hopefully it wouldn't be too difficult to find him…

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Obi-Wan knew he was close. He could feel it. If the Force wasn't playing tricks on him, then Luke should be right in front of him!

No, wait a minute. Up ahead in the crowd, Obi-Wan saw two Wookiees, and one of them was carrying Luke!

Obi-Wan jogged up to the Wookiees, and Chewie and Han ran to catch up.

"Luke!"

Obi-Wan saw Luke spin his head around to see who was talking to him, and Chewie spoke to the other Wookiees, telling them to stop.

/I'm Chewbacca. These are my friends, Han Solo, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. We've been looking for that boy./

/Really? Why?/

Obi-Wan addressed Chewie. "Tell him that I've been watching out for Luke ever since he was a baby."

Chewie repeated this, and the three Wookiees looked at each other. What were they going to do?

/Please give Luke to us,/ Chewie pleaded.

Achabac answered. /We want to make sure that you're telling the truth about all this./

Obi-Wan spoke again. "Ask them if they'd like to join us for lunch, and we can talk about it then."

Chewie extended the offer to the others, and the three Wookiees accepted.

In the meantime, Luke was getting tired of being held. "Can I walk now?"

Obi-Wan smiled. "Sure. Chewie, ask the Wookiee if he'd mind putting Luke down."

Once Luke was happily on the ground, Obi-Wan took his hand, and they began walking for the nearest restaurant.

It didn't take long to find one. There were so many in the city. They were seated inside a rather nice looking restaurant. Han happened to be sitting next to Luke.

"Hay, kid," Han said, addressing Luke.

"Hi!"

"I'm Han Solo."

"I'm Luke."

"Yeah, I know. We've been looking for you for days!"

Luke scrunched his face up in confusion. "Why?"

"I dunno. I guess Obi-Wan wants to look out for ya' since your old man's dead."

"My father's not dead!" Luke declared.

Han shrugged. "Well Obi-Wan seems to think so. What make you think that you're dad's alive?"

"I've talked to him," Luke said proudly.

"Really? So your dad's been raising you then?"

"No. I've never seen him before."

"But you've talked to him? You mean like over the com?"

"No. Through our minds!"

Han looked at Luke strangely. "O-kay. Now it's _you_ who's freaking me out."

"It's true!" Luke said indignantly.

"What's true?" Obi-Wan asked.

Han answered. "Luke thinks that he can talk to his father with his mind."

Obi-Wan's face grew serious. "You mean that you've talked to him through the Force?"

"I… I guess so."

Obi-Wan's eyes grew wide. How could an untrained child at Luke's age be able to do something like that?

"What did he say?"

"He asked me where I was."

"Did you tell him!?" Obi-Wan asked fearfully.

"Y…yes."

"Oh dear."

Blast it! Now Vader knew exactly where Luke was, and now he was probably on his way to claim his son.

"Okay, now I'm confused. You told me that Luke's father was dead," Han said.

"He is, in a manner of speaking."

"Man, you Jedi people freak me out!"

"There's no time to talk! We must leave here immediately! Chewbacca, explain the situation to the other Wookiees."

"What did I do?" Luke asked, his eyes wide with innocence.

"I'll tell you everything you want to know when we're safe in space."

"But I don't want to run away from my father!"

"Luke, this is necessary."

"I want my father!" Luke cried.

"Luke, come on. We must hurry!"

"I'm not coming!" Luke declared.

"Luke, I'm sorry, but you have to."

Obi-Wan picked Luke up, and ran out, followed by Han, Chewie, and the other three Wookiees, who wanted to make sure that 'Sunshine' got off the planet safely, thought they didn't know why he was kicking and screaming.

Luke desperately searched the Force, trying to find his father.

"_Father! Father! Help me!"_

Feeling Luke's attempts to reach Vader, Obi-Wan gently touched Luke's forehead, and put him to sleep.

"_Father! Fath…"_

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Meanwhile, a few days away from Alderaan, Vader heard Luke calling him.

"_Father! Father! Help me!"_

Luke! His son was in trouble!

"_Father! Fath…"_

Vader's heart froze when the calls suddenly ceased. What happened? Was Luke unconscious? Was he… _dead?_

No! Not Luke! Not his young, brilliant son. It couldn't be.

Vader searched the Force for Luke. Yes, he was still there. He was still alive, but definitely unconscious.

Vader wished that he could speed up the hyperdrive, get to Alderaan, and make sure that his small child was alright. But then, Luke will probably be off the planet by the time Vader got there.

What was going on? Was someone after his son? Vader couldn't think of anyone who'd be after Luke except for… Palpatine. Had the Emperor found out about Luke? Was it Palpatine who was behind all this?

No matter. Vader would soon find out, and whoever was trying to get his son was going to be in BIG trouble when Vader found culprit. Big trouble.

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To Be Continued…

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**A.N:**** Please review and tell me what you think!**


	8. One More Into the Chase

**A.N: Thank you for all the positive feedback! And thank you so much for being patient with me! I'm trying to update more frequently.**

**Chapter Eight: One More into the Chase**

Obi-Wan hastily climbed aboard his ship, while the other Wookiees hastily said their goodbyes, and took off in their own ship, going their own way. Apparently, they'd decided that humans could take care of their little Sunshine better then they could.

"Han, Chewie, get us out of here!" Obi-Wan yelled at the cockpit.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Han looked at the readout screens, trying to get a feel for the whole concept of being the pilot, and not the copilot. Speaking of the copilot…

"Knock it off, will 'ya, Chewie? I can fly this thing!" Han declared.

Of course, he wasn't very sure that he could. Han hadn't had very much experiance in flying, and he wasn't sure if he could even lift this ship off the ground without killing someone. But he had to learn someday!

Chewie growled when Han nearly crashed into another ship, causing the other ship to explode seconds after Han got out of range. This kid was nuts!

"I got this, okay!?" Han said, getting nervous

_Yeah, sure he had it!_ Chewie thought to himself. _This kid was going to kill them all!_ Chewie decided that he had to do something before Han actually _did_ kill someone!

Without waiting any longer, Chewie threw Han into the copilot's seat, while he, in turn, took the pilot's chair. Taking control of the ship, Chewie safely got them out of the system, and into hyperspace.

"I swear it was an accident," Han said, sulking. "Accidents happen."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Okay, my luck officially sucks," Boba muttered from under his helmet as he watched the ship containing the kid leave the planet. Who had been flying that thing? Boba had seen that ship cause another ship to completely explode.

Good thing his ship was nowhere near where that ship had been. The only problem was that he was no where near his ship, and now he had no idea where the kid was going now. Why did life have to be this complicated? Well, all he could do now was start all over again. Blast it, how many times did he have to do this!?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan was thinking about the same thing himself. About the luck part, at least. Apparently, Vader had already achieved in forming a bond with his son. A dangerous bond. How could he make his way past all of this? Luke had been calling out for Vader, and obviously, Vader had heard him.

After all his work to keep Luke away from Vader, he'd failed. Vader knew about his son, Luke knew that he still had a father somewhere, and it seemed that Luke would do anything to make sure that his father found him. Obi-Wan had to do something to put an end to this.

But what was he going to do? He couldn't simply tell Luke that his father was Darth Vader. No, that would be a disaster! But he couldn't very well keep Luke from contacting Vader, unless the boy had a reason to fear contacting Vader.

Suddenly, Obi-Wan felt Luke stirring in his arms. Well, it was now or never.

"Hello, Luke," Obi-Wan said pleasantly.

It took Luke a moment to remember what had happened, and to realize where he was. "Huh?" And then it all came back to him. "Let me go!"

"Luke…" Obi-Wan tried.

"I want my father!" Luke declared.

Obi-Wan took a deep breath before coming out with what he was going to say. "Luke, there's something you must know."

"What is it?" Luke asked, cocking his head to one side curiously.

Obi-Wan couldn't help but think that Luke looked irresistibly adorable when he did that. "Luke… you have been contacting Vader."

There, he'd said it. Maybe now, he could help Luke understand what was really going on. Of course, Obi-Wan still wasn't sure if this was the best path to take. Oh well, there was nothing he could do about it now.

Luke shook his head and said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, "No, I've been contacting my father,"

Obi-Wan sighed. Here came the hard part. If he told Luke the truth; that Vader was his father, then Luke may never be the same again. But on the other hand, if he lied to Luke, and said that Vader had murdered his father, Luke would be devastated. Well, he had to pick something to tell him. It was no or never…

"No Luke, Vader has lied to you. He's pretending to be your father so he can hunt you down and kill you." Okay, so maybe he could have laid that down a little more mildly for a five-year-old.

Luke's little eyes widened with fear. Was it true? Had he really been talking to Vader? "But… but why does he want to kill me?" Luke asked in a small voice.

"Luke, he wants to kill you because you're the son of Anakin Skywalker. A Jedi."

"But, where's my father?" Luke asked, almost dreading the answer.

Obi-Wan had no idea how Luke was going to take something like this… "Vader murdered your father, and now he wants to finish it by killing you as well."

At this point, tears began to form in Luke's eyes. He had been so sure that he'd been talking to his father. So sure that his father would come for him and take him away from anyone who was trying to kill him. But he was wrong. There were only more people trying to kill him.

It hurt Obi-Wan to see Luke in so much distress. But before he could do anything, he put a protective shield around Luke's mind so Vader would have no more contact with Luke.

"It's alright, young Luke. Don't worry, everything will be fine."

Luke brushed the tears off his face. "No it won't. I want a home, but every time I find one, I have to leave because some bad-guy is always coming."

Okay, so this wasn't the best way for Luke to reflect on life. But it was true that Luke needed a stable environment to grow up in. He was far too young to go gallivanting across the galaxy. If Luke had been older, Obi-Wan would have let it stay this way, but considering that he was dealing with a small child, it was obvious that a permanent home had to be found for Luke.

"Luke, I'll tell you what." Luke perked up at Obi-Wan's excited manner of speaking. "I know a planet that you would _love_ to live on! If I took you there, and you liked it, would you be happy?"

Luke considered this for a second. "Sure! As long as I don't have to live there all by myself."

Obi-Wan laughed. And for the first time in days, it was a genuine laugh. "Of course you wouldn't be living there by yourself! Han, Chewie and I be there with you! I can be the daddy, Han can be the big brother, and Chewie can be the loyal bodyguard who keeps you out of trouble."

Luke liked the sound of this. It would be like he had a real family! "I like that."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Vader was getting more worried by the second. It had been hours, and he'd felt no contact from his son. What was going on? If Luke was hurt, then someone was about to get killed!

Unless, Luke was choosing not to contact his father. But that was crazy. Luke had been so excited to be able to contact him; it would be absolutely ridiculous for Luke to _choose_ not to contact him.

But what else was there? Luke wasn't dead. Vader was sure of that by now. Luke may be hurt, and is unable to contact him, but Vader refused to believe that his young child was hurt.

Suddenly, a new thought came to Vader. What if Palpatine had nothing to do with this? What if it was someone who wanted to get back at Vader for something that he'd done?

Someone, maybe, by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Yes, that was possible. Perhaps Obi-Wan had gotten involved in this. How else would you explain Luke's hidden absence for five years? It had been Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan's final betrayal. Apparently, he hadn't thought it was enough to have his former apprentice burn in lava. He couldn't resist taking Vader's child. His only child and turning the young one against him. He was going to train Luke in the ways of the Jedi, and have Luke try to kill his father! That's what Obi-Wan was planning to do!

It made Vader sick to think of it. Obi-Wan had been keeping the boy away from his father. But no matter what Obi-Wan did, nothing would change the fact that the child was _his!_ No amount of Obi-Wan's lies and deceit could change the way of things. Vader _would_ have his child. Vader _would_ raise him the way he saw fit. That was the way it was supposed to be.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Bella Tyran walked through the streets of Alderaan, heading to her ship. Bella was a bounty hunter. A very efficient one at that. She'd made her name well known among the ranks of smugglers, dealers, and other bounty hunters like herself.

She'd come to Alderaan for a break after her latest job, but now it was time to get back to work and find some other job to take.

Suddenly, when she turned the last corner, Bella saw the last remains of her ship. Someone had blown it up!

"What _happened!?_" Bella exclaimed, not really addressing anyone.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Boba finally made his way to where that Skywalker kid's ship had been. He didn't know why he was over here. He was supposed to be in his own ship chasing them, but he had to find out where they'd gone anyway. Maybe there was a clue to where they'd gone.

And then he saw her. Long blonde hair, perfect body, tall, confident figure. She was wonderful!

Apparently, the woman didn't feel as wonderful as she looked. "What _happened!?_" the woman exclaimed.

Oh, so it was _her_ ship that had gotten blown up! Maybe he should say something. "My quarry accidentally caused it to explode when they were leaving the planet."  
The woman turned around, and then Boba recognized her. No, he had never actually _met_ her, but he'd heard of her. She was Bella Tyran; a famous bounty hunter like himself. Of course, she wasn't quite _as_ famous as him, but she was close.

"You're Boba Fett, aren't you?" Bella asked.

"I am. Fett at your service. What do you require?"

Bella rolled her eyes. "Transportation off this planet, it looks like!"

Oh right! She had no ship. Well this was just perfect. "Well, I have my ship, and it would be an honor to escort you off planet."

Bella thought for a second. When had Boba Fett become such a charmer? Wasn't he known for being ruthless and deadly? Maybe he was helping her out because she was another bounty hunter. Yeah, that was it.

"Well," she said. "I guess it wouldn't hurt for you to help me off the planet. So where's your ship?"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

One hour later, Bella and Boba sat in the cockpit of the Slave I. They'd just made the jump into hyperspace, and Boba decided to ask her where she was going.

"So… where are you headed to? Are you after some bounty?"

Bella shook her head. "Not really. I'm between jobs right now. I was on Alderaan taking a break."

Boba perked up at this. "You mean, you aren't headed anywhere in particular?"

"Not really," Bella said slowly.

"Then why don't you help me out with mine? It's easy quarry, and it pays well."

Bella considered this before coming to a decision. "What's the job?"

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**A.N: No, this is not going to be a romance fic. But, as you remember earlier, Boba wanted some love in his life, so I gave it to him.**

**Please review. I need reviews to keep me going!**


	9. A New Day's Adventure Begins

**A.N: Oh gosh, I am so sorry that I haven't updated this story for like, months! It's just, I started, (and finished) another story that I had promised myself I would write. Anyway, here, finally, is the next chapter.**

**Chapter Nine: A New Day's Adventure Begins **

It was an uneventful trip to the planet that Obi-Wan had in mind. The planet they were going to, Riveria, was about as far away from the rest of the galaxy that you could get. It was far beyond the outer rim, and the planet was mostly uninhabited.

Obi-Wan had found it a long time ago back before the Clone Wars. He had just been around twenty years old when his ship had malfunctioned and ended up on that planet. Obi-Wan had discovered it, and it was him who had named it 'Riveria.'

The origin of the name came from all the rivers that Obi-Wan had seen. He had even established a little house for himself. Yes, he would have to make it much bigger to accommodate everyone, but it would do.

Riveria was a nice planet to raise Luke on. There was lots of clean, fresh air, and fields to run and play on. Hopefully, they would be able to live there in peace for a very long time…

_**Eight Years Later…**_

Imperial Center had not changed one bit ever since the beginning of the Empire. And now, and Lord Vader stood on his balcony, gazing at the never ending city, he couldn't help but think how different life could have been for him if he had found his son.

It had been eight years. Eight years since the time he'd been so close to finding him. So close to being able to raise the little one, and keep him from being raised by his mortal enemy, and by now, Vader was sure that was exactly what had happened.

Ever since that chase from Kashyyyk to Alderaan, Vader hadn't heard from his son, or heard _about _him either. It was hard for Vader to think of Luke, wondering if he was safe and happy. Had he succeeded in catching him, he would be able to be sure that Luke was happy, and most importantly, safe. But he knew none of those things.

Vader had alerted every bounty hunter in the galaxy that if they ever came across a boy called Luke Skywalker, they were to let him know immediately. But how was that going to help? Luke should be thirteen now, and he had no idea how his own son looked. Would he ever have his child?

"Happy Birthday, kid!" Han said, running into Luke's room and pouncing on him.

"Ahh! Han! I thought I told you _not_ to do that!" Luke said, laughing.

Han swung Luke around in the air, then ruffled his hair in a brotherly manner. Ever since they moved to Riveria, Luke and Han had grown closer then brothers.

"You did," Han said. "But I wanted to do it anyway. By the way, Obi-Wan wanted me to tell you that breakfast is ready."

Luke smiled. "Why didn't you say so earlier? Let's go!"

Han was now eighteen, and he was getting tired of staying on the same old planet, not going anywhere. Yeah, he had left a few times, but only to get some supplies that they needed. Some day, he was planning to leave for good. But he didn't like the thought of leaving the kid. He had grown very fond of him, and he felt like it was his job to make sure that nothing ever happened to him.

"Good morning, boys," Obi-Wan said, when he saw the two enter the kitchen.

"Morning," they said, simultaneously.

Suddenly, Luke spied breakfast. "Do my eyes deceive me, or do I see pancakes?"

Obi-Wan grinned. "Happy Birthday. I made then especially for the occasion."

Luke and Han lost no time in claiming the most pancakes they could get their hands on. By the time Obi-Wan was seated, there was only one left.

"Well," Obi-Wan said, sighing. "I guess I'll need to make more of those."

Suddenly, Han noticed that someone was missing. "Where's Chewie?"

Obi-Wan seemed to pause before answering. "He's fixing up the ship."

"Why!?" Han and Luke asked simultaneously. They always seemed to say things at the same time.

Obi-Wan hesitated for a second, and this only made Han and Luke more anxious to know what this was all about. Finally, Obi-Wan decided to speak.

"I'm going away."

"What!?" Han and Luke yelled, forgetting their pancakes.

"Just for a short while!" Obi-Wan said, defending his decision.

"But why?" Luke asked.

Obi-Wan sighed. "Luke, I have an old friend that I have to talk to."

"Why don't you try the com?" Han asked sarcastically. "I hear they're workable."

"Boys, it isn't like that. My friend doesn't have any technology of any sort, and also, I need some time to… relax."

Luke gave Obi-Wan a disapproving look. "Excuse me? Are you meaning to say that you're taking a _vacation?_"

"No," Obi-Wan said, raising his hand in protest. "Nothing like that. I need time to meditate."

There was a moment of silence when no one spoke. Han and Luke were surprised at Obi-Wan's sudden move, and Obi-Wan didn't want the two teenagers to overload.

"But what about us?" Luke finally asked.

"You two are more then capable of taking care of yourselves for a while. I'll only be gone for two weeks at the worst… I mean most."

Luke and Han nodded their consent, but neither of them was happy about it.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Obi-Wan couldn't help but feel a little guilty as he lifted off in his personal ship. They had two ships; the Millennium Falcon, the ship that they had first come to this planet in, and the Time Spinner, a ship that Obi-Wan had gotten a few years ago.

To tell the truth, Obi-Wan felt a little uneasy, leaving the boys alone. But then, they weren't _really _alone. They had Chewie with them, and Obi-Wan _had_ to see Yoda.

Yes, Obi-Wan was going to Degobah to see the elderly Jedi Master. There were two reasons for this. First, he needed to speak to Yoda about Luke's training, and also, he needed to brush up on his own skills, and in truth, he _did _want a little break from constantly watching Han and Luke, and keeping them out of trouble. He needed some time to meditate, and become calm, and Yoda could help him with that.

Obi-Wan wasn't planning to be gone long. Just two weeks. Surely nothing drastic could happen in _two _weeks…

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Well, I guess that's that," Han commented, still looking at the sky.

"Yeah. How long did he say he'd be gone?"

"Two weeks," Han said, sighing. How come Obi-Wan could get a vacation off planet, and he couldn't? It wasn't fair, and by the looks of it, Luke was thinking the same thing. "Well, what do you wanna do? It's your birthday."

Luke grinned deviously. "Uh-oh," Han said. "That's the face I see every time before we get grounded."

"But Obi-Wan's not here to ground us this time," Luke said.

Han nodded. "True. What did you have in mind?"

"You know that old trunk up in the attic? The one Obi-Wan _never_ lets us look in?"

"Yeah," Han said. Suddenly he knew what Luke wanted to do, and in truth, it didn't seem like such a bad idea. "Are you sure you wanna do that?"

Once again, Luke grinned. "Positive."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"Wow, look at all the stuff in here!" Luke said after they had opened up the trunk.

Han kept pulling stuff out until he came across a familiar object. "Hey, look! It's the old lightsaber Obi-Wan let me practice with!"

Luke's face was blank. "Huh?"

Han decided not to say anything. If Obi-Wan hadn't told Luke about the saber yet, it was probably best that he didn't say anything either. "It's a long story. Look at all these books," Han said, changing the subject. "They look so old."

"Yeah." Suddenly, Luke caught sight of a book that stood out dramatically from the others. The cover was red, with gold trimming. "Look at this one!" Luke said, pulling it out.

"Hey, kid, that's real gold you're looking at!" Han said in awe. "How did he get something like that?"

Luke opened it. "Gosh, it's a photo album."

Han stared at the pictures. They were the expensive paper-like kind. "Kid, do you know how expensive it is to get pictures like this?" Han asked.

"Yeah," Luke said absently. His focus was on the pictures themselves.

There was one with a younger version of Obi-Wan standing next to a young man in a black leather outfit, styled a lot like Obi-Wan's.

The next picture had the same young man, only this time, he was with a beautiful lady in a yellow flower dress. The place where the picture had been taken was a field of some sort, and the two people seemed to be having a picnic.

"Hey, kid, look at the wording under this one," Han said, pointing to a picture taken of the lady.

Her hair was falling all around her face, and she had a calm look about her. Under the picture, there was a single word, '_Padme.'_

"Padme," Han said aloud. "I wonder who Padme is."

"Look at the wording under _this _picture!" Luke said excitedly

There were two names this time; _'Anakin and Padme.'_

"What about it?" Han asked.

"Han, Anakin was my father's name! This is a picture of my father!"

Han gasped. Obi-Wan had never talked much about Luke's old man, and to this day, Han still wondered why, and apparently, Luke had always wondered the same thing.

"Then who's the lady?" Han asked.

Luke shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe she's my mother!"

Han whistled. "Then kid, you had one hottie of a mom!" Luke threw Han an angry look. "Sorry."

There was silence as Han and Luke kept looking through the album. When they had finished, no one spoke. Each was lost in his own thoughts.

"I wonder why Obi-Wan never showed me this," Luke said. "If these are really pictures of my parents, then he had no reason to hide this from me."

"Or did he?" Han said. Luke looked up. "Kid, he always has reasons for doing things. Mostly."

Luke was at a loss for words. All he could think about was the album. Why did Obi-Wan hide this? What secrets did it hold that he had yet to discover? Was there something about his parent's past that Obi-Wan was trying to keep a secret?

Luke had always wanted to know about his parents. Until he knew about his mother and father, he wouldn't truly know who he was. If he could unlock the secrets to his parent's past, then he would be able to discover who he was. Suddenly, that was the only thing Luke wanted to do. He _had _to find out what Obi-Wan was hiding.

"Han, we've got work to do."

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To Be Continued…

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**A.N: Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Boba and Bella. I have plans for them. (wink) **

**Oh! You can see a picture of Riveria on the Story Art page on my homepage!**

**Please review!**


	10. Kayoa

**Chapter Ten: Kayoa **

**A.N: Sorry about the long wait. The holidays have been very hectic. But here we go with the tenth chapter at last!**

…

It had been many years. Boba and Bella had long decided not to work for the Emperor. Palpatine was just way to impatient, and they liked working at a leisurely pace. But this wasn't the only change. They had now been married for three years.

Yes, Boba had proposed to Bella after the two bounty hunters had been together for five years. At first, she was a little uneasy about marrying. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to balance marriage with duty. But they soon found a way to work it out.

One time, after their marriage, they had learned the Vader had more of an interest in Luke Skywalker then the Emperor had. Finding it interesting, and a little suspicious, they decided to investigate the matter. Boba Fett always liked knowing more then anyone else. It had taken a lot of work, but they finally had discovered the truth.

Luke Skywalker was Darth Vader's son.

Bella got very excited about this. She wanted to go after Skywalker, and give him to Vader. Her plan was to demand for more money. Vader was rich, and he wanted his son. It was that simple.

Boba had become fond of the idea, so now they were going about the galaxy looking for the son of Vader…

…

"Kid, I really don't think that this is such a good idea," Han said uncertainly.

Luke and Han had done some research by looking through the rest of the stuff in Obi-Wan's trunk, and they'd found a diary. It wasn't Obi-Wan's. It had actually been Luke's moms, and it contained the name of a planet that Luke was determined to visit.

Kayoa.

In the diary, Kayoa was referred to as 'the secret inheritance that may never be found.' This had just been way too tempting for Luke to pass up. But Han wasn't sure that they should leave the planet.

"Oh come _on_, Han!" Luke pleaded. "Where's your sense of adventure!?"

Han shook his head disapprovingly at Luke. "Kid, looking after you is the most adventure I can take right now."

"Please, Han! _Please!_" Luke fixed Han with the wide-eyed face that still worked for him whenever he wanted something. "I promise I'll be good."

Han watched Luke for a second, and then he finally gave up. "Oh FINE! But if we get in trouble, it's your fault!"

Luke grinned, and mumbled under his breath. "It's always gonna be my fault."

…

There wasn't much for Han and Luke to do to get ready. All Luke wanted to take was the photo album and the diary, and all Han was taking was the ship that they were going in.

The Falcon.

Taking off, they went in the direction of Kayoa. Luke was more excited then Han. Han was just there because he was talked into it, while Luke was there trying to find out about himself, and his parents. The difference in the boys' goals was tremendous.

Kayoa was much closer then either of them would have thought. It turned out to be just a few parsecs away from Riveria, and thus, it only took a day or two to get there. When they landed, Luke was over excited. They had landed on the only landing pad that they'd seen.

The landing pad was in the middle of the woods. From the air, Han and Luke had been able to see a building in a clearing, not far from the pad. Luke and Han decided to go there.

It was obvious that Kayoa was a forest planet. Any clearings were made by cutting away the trees and underbrush. It was pretty, but much different then the open, wide spaces that they were used to.

Now that they were near the building, they could tell that it was actually a very large mansion. Luke actually stood still and counted the floors. All together, there seemed to be thirty floors in the mansion, and it was a very wide house as well, making it almost as large as a small palace. It was bigger then anything Luke had ever seen.

They slowly approached the house, a little intimidated by its large size, and dark atmosphere. When they reached the door, Luke timidly raised his hand, and knocked. They waited a while before someone answered.

It was a man who seemed to be in his early thirties. He wore a leather jacket, and dark pants. He also had dark glasses that covered his eyes, making him look like the secret spy that Luke would watch on the hologram back at home.

"Who are you two, how did you find this place, and what do you want?" the man asked.

Both Han and Luke waited for the other to answer the man. Finally, Luke answered. "I'm Luke Skywalker, and this is my friend, Han." The man seemed to change in mood when he heard Luke's name. "We found the name of this planet in my mother's old diary."

There was a pause. Han and Luke waited for him to answer. Finally, the man spoke. "My name is Mac Matosh. We have been waiting years for you to show up, Young Luke."

"Me?" Luke asked, jerking a thumb at his chest.

Mac nodded. "Yes. This was your mother's secret home that she would visit whenever she could. She told us that if something ever happened to her, the mansion and everything in it would go to her son, Luke Skywalker.

"Whoa, whoa!" Han said. "You mean this place belongs to the kid!?"

"Yes," Mac said. "We were his mother's bodyguards, and now we'll be his bodyguards."

"I like this guy," Luke commented.

…

Meanwhile, not far from Kayoa, Boba and Bella were getting alerted of a ship that had passed them in hyperspace twenty minutes ago. Whenever they got altered, the loud, blaring alarm system went off.

"What did you do?" Bella asked.

Boba shook his head. "Nothing. It seems that our quarry has finally decided to come out of hiding."

Back when he had still be working for the Emperor, Boba had been able to put an alert device on the ship that they were chasing, so whenever it came anywhere within twenty parsecs of Boba's and Bella's ship, they would be alerted. Boba never thought it would actually work.

"Where are they headed?" Bella asked her husband urgently.

Boba pressed a few buttons, and looked at the results on the screens. "They're on some planet called Kayoa. That's weird…"

Boba remembered something about that planet. He couldn't quite remember what it was, but just mentioning the name… there was something that he had to remember…

"Boba, are you alright?" Bella asked, snapping the bounty hunter back into reality.

Boba shook his head a few times to organize his thoughts before answering. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Just a minor flashback. Maybe we should contact Vader and tell him about this."

…

Vader was on Corescaunt, meditating in his chamber when he heard his comlink beeping. Annoyed that his meditation had been interrupted, Vader was tempted not to answer, but it was his private comlink, and it may be important.

Vader reached for the comlink, and pressed the receive button. "What is it?" he snapped angrily.

"Sorry if this is a bad time," Vader heard someone say. He recognized it as the bounty hunter, Boba Fett's voice. "But we just discovered the location of that kid, Luke Skywalker."

Vader froze with shock. What? After all these years, after all this time, someone had finally found his long lost son? It seemed too good to be true! So many questions rushed into his head. Where was he? Where had he been all these years? What…

"He's somewhere on the planet Kayoa," Boba said, interrupting Vader's thoughts. "That's all we know."

It was just the name of a planet, but it was good enough for Vader. He would leave immediately for the planet, Kayoa. He would find his son and claim him as his own. No one would ever take his child away from him again!

"Thank you, Fett. Come here to Imperial Center to receive your reward."

Vader didn't care how much money Boba would be getting from him. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered. Nothing except getting his son was important to him now.

…

"Han, can you believe how big this place is?" Luke asked.

They were sitting in Luke's bedroom which made the largest room back at their house on Riveria look like a closet.

Mac had given them a tour of the first three floors. It was even bigger then they thought, but it was also darker. The walls were all painted a dark color, the furniture was all very expensive looking, but also dark. There were carvings in the walls, and on the stairways that gave the house a dark, forbidding feel.

"Yeah, kid. It's pretty cool, but it sorta gives me the creeps."

Luke nodded. "Yeah, me too. I feel like something bad happened here, a long time ago… You wanna go explore?" Luke asked suddenly.

"Kid, we just finished looking over the house…"

"Not all of it!" Luke said. "I wanna see the higher floors. It could be exciting!"

Han shook his head. "Naw, you can go, but I want to rest, I'm tired." Han didn't give Luke his real reason for not going. He just felt uncomfortable wandering around in a big place like this.

…

So Luke went off on his own, looking at the mansion that Mac said was now his. At first his exploration of the house was very boring. There were lots of spare bedrooms and sitting rooms, but finally he came to a room that was worth a look.

It was a library. But not just _any _library. This one was three stories high. There were catwalks above him, and everywhere he looked, there were shelves and shelves of books. It was the most amazing room he'd seen all day.

Luke began poking around, looking for a clue to who his parents were, and what they did when they were still alive. When he found nothing on the tables, he started pulling books off the shelves. Finding nothing of interest on the first floor, he went to the second, and began going through the books there.

Suddenly, he tried to pull out a book, and instead of falling into his hands, there was a quiet clicking sound, and a section of the bookshelf opened inward to reveal a secret passage.

The Force came to life, speaking to him, singing to him, telling him to follow it into the passage…

…

**A.N: Hehe! I couldn't resist doing the 'behind the bookshelf' thing. Please review!**


	11. Revealing What Should Be Known

**Chapter Eleven: Revealing What Should Be Known**

**A.N: I'm SOOO sorry for the long wait! I'll try to update more often, but only if you review! I just recently updated my story, Legal Guardian, and I only got three reviews! That's pathetic! I'm going to have to get a whole lot more reviews then that if you want me to update again any time soon! If you read this, then PLEASE review! **

Luke hesitated at first. He didn't know where the passage would take him, but the temptation was too great. Slowly, ever so slowly, he stepped into the passage, and walked along the dark hall, until he came to a door. He tried it, and found that it was unlocked. Opening the door, he glanced around the room.

He was frozen in awe at the doorway, unable to move. This room, this hidden, secret room, was filled with such wondrous things. Things that he had only imagined.

Finally, he got the courage to walk into the room and explore. To his right, he saw a table with objects and data pads stacked high enough to reach to ceiling. He walked over to the table, and picked up the first object he saw. It looked like a laser cutter. As soon as he picked it up, a scene went through his head. It wasn't a memory. Well, it wasn't one of _his _memories…

"…_Ani, stop playing with those tools and come to bed."_

_A man, tall and handsome with a golden/brown mullet sighed, and turned to face a woman with long, brown hair._

"_Padme, can't you just go to bed without me? I'll be there in a second."_

_The woman rolled her eyes, and gave an exasperated laugh. "Anakin! What are you trying to build, anyway?"_

_The man, Anakin, held up a small, silver device. It looked like a miniature handle for something. "It's a miniature lightsaber." He said this with pride as he held up the lightsaber he'd created. "It functions just like any regular lightsaber, only it can fit in my pocket."_

_Padme wasn't impressed. She walked up to her husband, and took the 'miniature lightsaber' out of his hand, and put it in a drawer. _

"_Hey," Anakin protested. "What are you doing?"_

_Padme sat down on the bed, and smiled. "I'm trying to get you to bed on time."_

_Anakin sighed. "If I go to bed, will you give it back?"_

_Padme's smile turned into a playful grin. "I may…"_

Just as soon as it started, the vision stopped, and Luke refocused on his surroundings. Where had that come from? Were those two people that he'd seen his parents? He had no way of knowing, but he was pretty sure that they were!

He looked back at the device in his hands. It was the miniature lightsaber that he'd seen in the vision. Putting it in his pocket, Luke decided to forget about the vision for now. He could straighten things out later. Right now he wanted to check out the rest of the things in this room.

Finding nothing more of interest on the table, and not wanting to go through all the data pads right now, Luke decided to check out the other side of the room. There, he saw large, display cases made of glass. But it was what was inside the cases that caught his eye.

Now, being a guy, Luke wouldn't normally care about girls' clothes, but these clothes were very expensive looking. There was a red one with golden trimmings, and a large, brown headdress that went with it.

The other display cases had similar clothes. They looked like something a queen would wear. Then why would they be here? In a hidden room? At a mansion that his mother had owned? Or, was it because his mother had owned these dresses? Why would she have these very fancy dresses? Where would she wear them?

In the cases further on, he saw less elaborate dresses, but they were just as beautiful. There was a long, flowing rainbow dress, and another one that was yellow with flowers. But the one that seemed to draw his eye the most was a white dress. It looked like it could have been his mothers wedding dress. The detail work on it was amazing, and everything looked so expensive, Luke just couldn't imagine his _mother _owning these!

There were so many questions! Questions that he wanted so desperately to be answered.

…

Vader had been in hyperspace all day, ever since he'd gotten Luke's location. He wasn't too far away from Kayoa now. In fact, he should be getting a message soon telling him that they were entering the system.

He couldn't explain the emotions running through him. There was anticipation, nervousness and even hope.

Anticipation because he was excited that he may finally meet his son, face to face. Nervousness because he didn't exactly know what he was going to say when he saw the boy, and he didn't know what Luke's reaction would be to meeting him, and Hope because he was hoping that Luke would be able to accept him as a father. This particular thought brought a whole lot more emotions out into the open.

Vader had no idea how he was going to tell Luke that he was his father, and he didn't know when exactly he wanted to do it.

What would Luke say when he found out? True, Vader had told him once before. Long ago, when Luke was still a small child. But how was Luke to know that it was _Darth Vader_ that he'd been talking to?

What if Luke _did _decide to willingly accept it? He would finally have his son. His child that he thought was lost so long ago. He still found it so amazing that he'd helped create life. Because of him, this boy existed. The thought gave him a sense of lust, and even more, a sense of ownership.

Because of him, Luke was created and brought into this galaxy, so by rights, the boy _belonged _to him. This child was _his_, and should have always been his. He wanted to have his child with him, and to be completely submissive to his commands. An obedient child is what he wanted, but he feared that he was not going to be getting what he wanted this time.

Finally, his comlink beeped. It was the Captain. They had reached their destination.

…

Far away, on the planet Degobah, two Jedi masters felt a disturbance in the Force. It was strong, full of surprise and pain. At first, it was unidentifiable, but suddenly, Obi-Wan recognized who the disturbance was coming from.

It was Luke.

…

Vader was in his shuttle, on his way down toward the planet, Kayoa, when he felt the disturbance as well. It was coming from a Force sensitive down on the planet. He'd felt a similar disturbance eight years ago. It was his son.

The disturbance radiated such pain and surprise, that Vader got exceedingly worried. What was going on? What was happening to Luke?

…

Luke screamed again, the searing pain on his back ripping through his entire body. He wanted to let go, but he couldn't. The Force wouldn't allow it. Luke needed to be shown one more thing.

The vision shifted to a dark landing platform where three figures stood. One was Anakin. Luke could easily identify his father in the visions now. The other was Obi-Wan. It was only too easy to recognize him. The other was an elderly man with white hair. On his belt, a curved lightsaber hung.

"_You are going to pay for all the Jedi you killed today, Dooku." _

Anakin was speaking. His voice was full of anger and hate. Both of them were dangerous emotions.

"_We'll take him together," Obi-Wan was saying. "You go in slowly on the left and…"_

_Anakin interrupted before Obi-Wan could finish. "I'm taking him now!"_

Anakin began running toward Count Dooku, lightsaber ignited. His intentions were obvious.

"_No, Anakin! No! NO!" Obi-Wan shouted, but nothing could stop the hotheaded apprentice. _

_Count Dooku extended his hand, and out came sith lightning. Anakin began screaming in pain, and so did Luke. Every injury his father was receiving was being inflicted upon him._

"Please stop!" Luke pleaded.

"_This is a warning," the Force whispered to him. "Beware. You must maintain your thoughts and your courage, or the consequences that followed every wrong decision your father made will be inflicted upon you…"_

The voice faded, and along with it, the vision and the pain also began to fade. Once again, Luke refocused on the object that had caused all this. It was a chapor snippet hung on a black cord.

Luke flung the necklace to the ground with disgust. How could a single object cause so much pain? Luke didn't know it, but the Force was very alive in this room.

Luke looked around. He'd had had enough of this room. Without a glance back, he left, and closed the door behind him.

When he finally came out of the passage, Luke also closed up the hidden bookcase door. He had no desire to return to that hidden room any time soon. For now, he wanted to get back to Han and tell him about everything that he'd seen. The objects, the visions, and tell him about all the new questions that had arisen in his head.

Of course, Han had no possible way of knowing the answers to his questions, but he generally had good ideas about what the answers might be.

Exiting the library, Luke made his way back to the bedroom where Han was.

…

When the shuttle finally landed, Vader ordered his squad of troops to take control of the mansion, and keep anyone from leaving. But they were not to shoot anyone. If it became absolutely necessary, their weapons were set on stun, but Vader hoped more then anything that it wouldn't be necessary.

…

Something wasn't right. Luke could feel it somehow. Instead of heading to the bedroom to find Han, Luke changed his destination to the nearest window. He finally came to an empty room on the fourth floor with a very large window that took up the whole wall, and it had a view of the front yard.

He looked out, and when he did, he was horrified. It was the last thing he'd ever expected to see. A squad of Imperial troops were heading for the mansion, and they were being led by Darth Vader!

"No!"

Luke ran out of the room as fast as he could, not sure of what to do. He wanted to find Han and warn him, but at the same time, he wanted to hide. He didn't want Darth Vader to catch him! He didn't want to die!

…

As soon as Vader entered the house, he stretched out his senses, searching for his son. He felt him. Luke's presence couldn't be missed. The boy was sending out his emotions through the Force. He was frightened, worried and scared.

This wasn't going to be easy.

Letting his troops carry out his orders, Vader focused on his son's presence, and began the task of finding him.

…

Han heard the troops, he heard the voices, and his first thoughts were of Luke. Where was he? Right now, nothing mattered but finding Luke and making sure that he was safe.

…

He was close, Vader could feel it. Suddenly, he rounded the corner, and ended up bumping into Luke! The boy had apparently been running, because when he ran into Vader, his head bounced against his armor, and dazed him long enough for Vader to pin the child against his chest.

"Let me go!" Luke demanded, trying to struggle out of Vader's arms. Vader was about to respond, when he saw another figure running toward them. "Han!" Luke called out desperately.

"Luke!" The young man, Vader guessed to be in his early twenties, drew his pistol out from it's holster, and pointed it at Vader. "Let him go!"

Things just got very complicated.

…

**A.N: Please review! If I don't get any reviews, then I won't update!**


	12. Not Planned

**Chapter Twelve: Not Planned**

**I want to thank the few who actually reviewed. To those of you who _didn't _review, (puts on an elderly looking face) I'm very disappointed in you. But I'm still updating. I wasn't planning to, but I suddenly got a few reviews to push me on, so I'm doing this for those people. Thanks!**

**By the way, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but this chapter isn't going to be that long. If I had gotten more reviews, it would have been longer. The more reviews I get, the longer the chapters are. That's how it goes.**

…

Han didn't know how Vader had figured out where they were, and he didn't care. All he cared about was getting Luke away from Vader.

"Let him go," Han repeated, holding his blaster steady.

Vader thought for a moment. He couldn't fight and hold on to Luke at the same time. Vader pulled Luke closer, and stood coolly in front of Han.

"You would shoot while Luke is in front of me?" he asked. Vader could tell that Han was furious.

"That is low, Lord Vader. Using a kid as a shield."

Vader would have cared less about what the young man, Han, said, except for the fact that what he said seemed to have an affect on Luke. The boy's anger rose steadily. Apparently Luke wasn't too thrilled about being used as a shield.

"I wouldn't have to if you put your blaster back in its holster," Vader said, just to see what Han would do. "We can talk this over like gentlemen."

Han laughed. "I'm the gentleman. You're just a man." But talking it over seemed like the only way he could possibly win. Right now, he saw no advantages. He complied, and put away his blaster.

"That's better," Vader said. "Now perhaps we can talk about this little misunderstanding."

This got a sarcastic laugh from Luke. "Misunderstanding? You are _squishing _me!" Vader relaxed his hold on Luke, but he was nowhere close to letting go. "That's better," Luke approved.

"Okay," Han said. "What do you want with Luke?"

There was a long pause. Vader didn't know what to tell this man. Should he just tell him the truth? That Luke was his son, and so he rightfully belonged to him. Or should he think up something else? If he lied now, the boy may never trust him, even if Vader was just lying to his friend. Maybe the truth was the best route to take.

"He is my son."

When they heard this, despite the situation, Han and Luke started laughing hysterically. This wasn't exactly the reaction Vader had imagined he'd get after giving such a blunt answer.

"No, seriously," Han and Luke said, simultaneously.

They didn't believe him. How could Vader make them believe him? They thought that it was just a joke! Well Vader was _not _joking!

"You should know enough about me to know that I never joke. I am completely serious."

This time, the boys stopped laughing. Somehow, they felt that there was much more to this that they were missing.

Vader felt his son stretch out, searching for the truth. Vader let him search his mind; he wanted the child to know the truth. After a few minutes, Luke spoke.

"But… that can't be true."

"_It is," the Force whispered to him. "The truth that we warned you of. Beware, beware…"_

The voice faded away like it always did, leaving Luke in utter shock. How could Darth Vader, the second in command of the Empire, the evil being that he'd always feared, be his father?

A memory came to mind. This time, it was one of his own memories…

"_Father, where are you?"_ It was him, as a little boy. Back when he was five. He was in an imaginary world, playing hide-and-seek with his father.

"_Here I am, Luke."_

The voice, deep in tone, it was his father. He was talking to him. Little Luke gasped.

"_Father?_

"_Yes, son it is me," his father answered, amusement evident in his voice. "Are you surprised?"_

The conversation went on. His father asked where he was, and said he didn't know. Later, Obi-Wan had told Luke that it was Darth Vader he was talking to. But… could it also have been his father? Yes, he knew now that he had been talking to Vader, but if Vader was his father, then…

"I can't believe it," Luke said. But even as he said it, he knew that he certainly _did _believe it. "You're actually telling the truth."

Vader smiled. Luke was taking this well. Maybe this would go well after all.

"Kid, he can't really be your father!" Han declared. Then he thought about it for a moment. Vader had always been interested in Luke, but he never seemed to want to hurt him. "Or maybe he could…"

Suddenly, a huge explosion was heard. Luke wanted to go see what it was all about, he pulled against Vader.

"Would you mind letting me go for a second?" Luke asked in a frustrated voice.

Surprisingly, Vader let go, and followed the two boys down to the first floor, and out the front door.

They headed toward the landing pads, because that was where the explosion seemed to have come from. When they finally came to the landing pad, they saw the last thing the expected:

Nothing.

There was nothing there. Vader's shuttle and the boys' ship were both missing. The ships couldn't have been the things that had been exploded, because there would have been pieces of the ships scattered around the spot where the ships had been, but it was as if the two ships had never been there.

"Okay, what did you do, your Lordship?" Han demanded, looking suspiciously at the Dark Lord.

"I assure you, I have nothing to do with this," Vader said. "I am in shock as much as you."

Luke looked around, but saw nothing but forest. "But if you didn't do this, who did?"

Vader would have sighed if he could. "That is a good question, young one. For now, I will contact my ship, and see if they know what happened."

Vader turned away from the other two while he talked to the captain on his com. While he talked, Han and Luke contemplated the strange events that had taken place ever since they had gotten to Kayoa.

Han thought all of this was more then strange, and he didn't even know what had happened to Luke in the secret room. Luke, on the other hand, knew that there was something strange about the planet they were on. Someone or some_thing_ was warning them. He knew that for sure. But was it a friendly warning, or an _un_friendly warning? Luke guessed the latter.

"Han, I've got a bad feeling about this," Luke commented.

Han brushed his hair back nervously. "Yeah, me too."

…

Meanwhile, not too far away from Kayoa, Boba Fett was musing over a forgotten memory. There was something about that planet, Kayoa, that he knew that he just _had _to remember! But what was it? He had been to many places in the universe, and lots of places made him uneasy. But something about that particular planet just made him feel nervous all over.

"Gods of the Suns! How could I forget!" Boba suddenly cried out. He remembered! Of course, how could he forget!

"Boba?" Bella asked, looking at her husband quizzically. "What is it?"

"We have to go to Kayoa," Boba said, starting up his ship's engines. Bella was used to Boba making sudden decisions, but this seemed different then the others.

"Why?"

Boba looked at her gravely. "We have to warn them."

Bella had no idea what he was talking about. She had never needed to go to Kayoa, so therefore, she had didn't know what was going on.

"Warn them? About what?" Bella wondered what had suddenly _possessed _her husband to cause him to act so strangely. He hardly ever cared about what happened to others. Why was it all different now?

"We must warn them about everything!" Boba Fett declared. "We may already be too late."

…

**A.N: I couldn't help doing another cliffhanger! In case you didn't notice, I've dropped a few hints about this throughout the earlier chapters. I just wanted to let you know if you hadn't caught that. **

**So anyway, review, and maybe next time, I'll give you a longer chapter!**


	13. The Shadow People

**Chapter Thirteen: The Shadow People**

**A.N: Finally! I've been trying to get this chapter uploaded for days! I am at a loss of words right now to explain this embarrasingly long wait for an update to my story. Just please don't force choke me! I promise to do better in the future. So now, on with this story at last!!!**

**-------**

Chewie was pacing back and forth in the yard like he had been doing for the past three days. The two boys had left the planet without telling him, and now he was stranded with no way to contact the boys or Obi-Wan. After searching the house, he decided that he had learned where they had gone. They had gone to Kayoa. It was obvious because, in the attic, some diary had been left open with the word, Kayoa, underlined in red.

Darn it, how long would it take for Obi-Wan to come back from his 'vacation!?' The longer Obi-Wan took, the more time it gave the reckless teenagers to get into trouble. And if Chewie knew those two boys, then they had gotten into trouble already.

-------

Back on Kayoa, Luke, Han and Vader had gone back into the house to see if one of the servants knew anything about the dissapearing ships. There was one person in particular that Luke wanted to talk to: Mac Matosh. If anyone knew something about all this, he would. But he searched the entire house through, and still, he could not seem to find him. Where had Mac gone?

"Han?" Luke said, turning to his friend. "You wouldn't happen to know where Mac is, would you?"

Han inwardly sighed. He too, would have liked to speak to Mac, since he seemed to know everything. "No. Where do you think he could have gone?"

Luke shrugged. "No idea."

Meanwhile, Vader had contacted his ship. According to what he could find out, no one had seen or heard anything that could possibly help them figure out what had happened. It had become quite a mystery. A mystery that Vader planned to solve, and the sooner the better. They were in danger here, and the one person Vader was worried about the most was Luke. He couldn't let anything happen to his precious son.

-------

Obi-Wan sighed as he landed his ship back on Riveria. He had only been gone a few days, but he couldn't help but worry that the boys would go off and do something foolish, and it was for that reason that he had come back earlier than he had first intended.

As soon as he got out of the ship, Chewie came rushing toward him, speaking so fast that Obi-Wan couldn't understand what the Wookie was saying. It seemed urgent, so he tried to calm his friend down.

"Chewbacca, slow down! I can't for the life of me understand what you just said."

Chewie grunted in frusteration and started talking slower so that his Jedi friend would be able to understand. He told Obi-Wan about how suddenly the boys had left, what he had found in the attic, and the open book.

"Oh dear," Obi-Wan said, getting worried. "They've gone to Kayoa."

Obi-Wan didn't know what Boba Fett knew. He was simply worried that Vader may possibly find out where the boys had gone and try to get his son... of course, Obi-Wan didn't know that this had already happened. All he knew was that he and Chewie had to get there as soon as possible before worst came to worst.

"Come on, Chewie. We've got work to do."

-------

Boba and Bella Fett finally got to Kayoa. During the trip, Boba had told his wife his own experiance on this planet, and why he had to get there so soon. Bella, now understanding, what the whole deal was, told her husband to hide their ship once they landed it so that they wouldn't loose it the same way Boba had lost his first ship when he had come here. They landed the Slave I in the middle of the woods near a cave.

As soon as they had done this, they rushed toward the mansion where they were sure the others would be. Without bothering to ring the doorbell or knock, they rushed right in and started looking for the inhabitance of the household. They found Luke and Han first.

"Boys! Oh I'm so glad we found you!"

"AH!" Han exclaimed. "Big bad bounty hunters. Not cool."

"No, it's fine!" Bella said, trying to explain. "We came here to warn you about this planet."

Han snorted. "A little late for that, sister."

Bella walked up to Han until she was nearly touching him with her body. She was glaring at him with rapid anger. She had always had a very short temper. "Look, _kid_. We can be friendly about this, or we can just leave you two to your ultimate doom."

Han's face grew into one of shock. "Sh.. she... she just called me _kid_! Hey, listen woman, I am _not _a _kid!_ I'll have you know that I'm eighteen years old!"

Bella's own face became very sarcastic. "Oohh, eighteen. You're a big boy, aren't you?"

Forgetting that this was a woman he was arguing with, Han almost tackled her, but he held his ground. He just couldn't _believe _that he had just been dissed by a _girl_.

"Can you guys stop arguing for _one_ minute so we can find out why they came!?" Luke asked in his demanding voice. Bella backed off and waited for Boba to explain since he was the one who knew all about it.

When everyone seemed to be paying attention, Boba began to speak. "Ever since the beginning of the Empire, this planet has been inhabited by black cloked figures, and wear masks that cover their whole face execept for their eyes. They stay here, stealing any ships that come hear, and kidnapping the people who come. Everything, ships _and_ people get thrown into a lava river. The Shadow People, as we bounty hunters call them, have a secret hideout that no one can find. They say they live in a volcano where the lava river is. Anyone who comes to this planet is in danger of coming to the same fate that many others before them have met."

At first, it was all too much for Han and Luke. They stood there stunned for a minute before Luke asked, "How do you know all this?"

Boba sighed. "I came here once before. The Shadow People had captured me. I watched my ship get destroyed by the lava. Thankfully I escaped before I too was thrown into the lava."

Luke nodded. "We need to get off this planet."

"Hold on!" Han said. "If these... um, '_Shadow People_' kidnap anyone who comes here, then why is it that everyone in this house is still here after being here for years?"

Luke, Boba and Bella shrugged. "I don't know," Luke said. "I mean, the only possible conclusion would be..." Suddenly, it hit them. Han and Luke spoke simultaniously: "That they are in league with The Shadow People!"

-------

**A.N: Hey! Short chapter, I know. I just wanted to get this story updated so you people won't want to kill me for keeping you waiting to discover the secret of Kayoa. And I promise you, there are still _many_ more secrets... and surprises... in store for you all! **

**Please review:)**


	14. Barricade

**A/N: Suddenly I felt inspired to update this story. But you know, the most inspiration any writer can get are your reviews. So please review. That way, I'll get inspired, and then you'll get updates more often. **

**Please, if you read this, you must review. It only takes a second to tell me what you think. So pretty, pretty please with a cherry on top???**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Barricade**

Vader finally found Luke and Han again but this time, they weren't alone. Boba and Bella Fett were here as well!

"What a surprise to see _you_ here," Vader said, addressing the bounty hunters.

"We had to come so we could warn you," Boba said, getting annoyed that he kept having to repeat this.

"Warn me?" Vader said, stepping next to his son and gripping his shoulder in a protective manner. "About what?"

As Luke tried to get free of Vader's secure hold, Boba told yet again the story of the Shadow People, and then Han added in his own sarcastic way that they were almost completely positive that all the servants and inhabitants of this household were also Shadow People as well. Thankfully, they weren't here right now.

"We must leave this place at once. Fett, do you still have your ship?"

"Yes, we've hid it in a cave. There's no way the Shadow People can find it."

Vader was about to suggest that they all get to the bounty hunter's ship as soon as possible. Vader _could_ just com his ship and tell them to send a shuttle, but that would take too long. But right as he opened his mouth to speak, he felt a sudden stab of warning through the Force.

He finally let go of Luke and went to investigate. The others, curious as to why he suddenly just left without a word, followed him.

At the front door, they saw what they had hoped with all their hearts to avoid.

It was a whole band of shadow people!

"Quick, back inside!" Vader commanded. Everyone obeyed immediately. Vader closed the door and locked it. "Everyone spread out and find all the doors and windows. Lock them!"

They all saw what Vader was planning. It wasn't the best idea, but it was the only option they had left. Everyone went in a different direction, locking all the doors and windows they saw. Once they had barricaded all the doors and windows on the first and second floors, they met up at the front door again.

"What now, your Lordship?" Han asked with a slight sarcastic tone. "You can't be stupid enough to think that we'll be safe by simply locking the doors."

Luke, Boba and Bella murmured their agreement, and Vader explained, "I am using the Force to reinforce any place where the shadow people can enter. It won't last forever, but it _will_ last long enough for me to com my ship and have them send reinforcements."

"Great," Han said, whispering to Luke. "Just what we need; more Imperials."

But Han didn't need to worry about that, for when Vader tried to use his com, he found that it didn't work.

"They're blocking my signal," Vader said. He glanced at his son worriedly. "This comlink is useless now."

"What do we do now?" Luke asked, addressing everyone.

"You know, kid," Han said, turning to Luke. "When you first talked me into coming I said, 'if we get in trouble, it's your fault.' And so now I'm gonna say… Luke, this is _your_ fault!"

"It's always my fault," Luke muttered.

"Petty arguing will not get us anywhere," Vader stated.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Boba asked.

Vader wished he could think of something, but there wasn't any plan that he liked. If Luke wasn't here, he would suggest that they go out and fight them off. But the fact remained that Luke _was_ here, and he wouldn't ever put his child in danger.

The only other solution there was would be just to stay here and depend on the barricade they had made to keep them safe. And until someone could come up with a better idea, that was what they were going to have to do.

…

All five of them agreed to finding a room near the middle of the house where they would all be safer. Vader knew that with the Force reinforcing the barricade that they would be safe for tonight.

It was Luke who had suggested the library. When the others saw it they agreed. The room was shaped like a circle. The first floor of the library (remember, the library is three floors high) started on the third floor and ended at the last floor of the house, which was the fifth floor.

In the middle of the floor on the first floor of the library, you could look up and see the ceiling on the fifth floor. But then when you drew back near the shelves of book cases, away from the center of the room, the ceiling stopped where the first floor of the library ended so right above your head, if you went through the ceiling, you would find yourself on the second floor of the library next to some more shelves.

The middle of the second and third floors of the library where open so you could see all the way down to the first floor of the library. There were fancy carved railings on the second and third floors of the library to keep anyone from falling. The whole library was located in the very center of the house.

When everyone voted for the library, Luke smirked at Han as if to say, '_I knew that it would pay off to explore the house.'_

Everyone agreed to the bottom floor of the library, and they all got comfortable, for there was a long night ahead of them.

They knew that it was smart to stay in one little group. They sat between the bookshelves in a little place that was set aside for reading. They all sat on the floor, and used the chair's cushions to make where they were sitting more comfortable.

No one wanted to sleep. Instead, they all tried talking. Han and Luke found Boba's stories to be most interesting. He told of his own adventures through the Clone Wars when he had been a child, how he had become a bounty hunter, and also how he'd met Bella. It was then that Han realized that he had been the one responsible for Boba and Bella meeting, for if he hadn't crashed into her ship, causing it to explode, they never would have met.

After that, Boba said that it was Han or Luke's turn, so they decided to tell about some of the times when they had gotten into the most trouble. (Han always claimed that it had been Luke's fault.) Though they didn't think their stories where half as cool as Boba, the others found their stories to be very entertaining.

After that, it was Vader's turn. Surprisingly, he agreed and told some of his own adventures when he had been a boy. (He stayed off the subject of Shmi or Padme. Instead he told them about when he had won a pod race even though others had said it was impossible for a human to participate in a pod race and live.)

Everyone already knew that Luke was Vader's son, and therefore that Vader's real name was Anakin, for you remember that Boba and Bella had found out through research, and Vader had told Luke and Han himself.

After all the stories which had carried on past midnight, everyone finally got tired, and each one slowly drifted off to sleep. Vader stayed awake longer than the rest of them, but finally satisfied that they were in no danger, he too allowed himself to sleep.

* * *

**A/N: Aw, look! The Sith lord, the teenagers, and the bounty hunters are all bonding. Ain't it cute???**

**Please review!**


	15. Darkness in the Air

**A/N: After much thought and careful thinking, I have finally decided where I'm taking this story! I promise you guys, there are so many surprises in store for you! You cannot even **_**begin**_** to comprehend what's going to happen!**

**Now that I know where I'm taking this; I've gotten very inspired, and now I've got this long update for you guys. It's full of action and mystery, and it'll make up for that short non-action chapter that I gave you yesterday.**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Darkness In the Air**

When Vader and the others barricaded the mansion, they overlooked one tiny detail. They forgot that the Shadow People knew more about the house than they did. For you remember that the household servants are a part of the Shadow People, and therefore, they know everything about the house. One of those overlooked places in the house was the trap door on the roof that lead right down into the library where Vader, Luke, Han, Bella and Boba where sleeping.

In the dead of night, while the small, unassuming people were all fast asleep, a group of twenty Shadow People all dressed in dark robes that covered their faces opened the trap door and used ropes to lower themselves silently to the first floor of the library.

Once the intruders were all down, they crept toward the sleepers. If Luke, Han, Vader or the bounty hunters hadn't been asleep, they would have heard the Shadow People arguing over who they were going to kidnap.

They knew all about Darth Vader. He was a dark lord of the Sith and very powerful. One awakened, he may gather himself up in a furry and kill them all. No, they couldn't risk taking the Dark Lord.

They came to the same conclusion with Boba Fett. They remembered quite well when they had caught him once before, but somehow he had escaped, killing some of their people in the process.

It took a great warrior to escape from their lair. It was heavily guarded with only the best of the best. Any less than they were taken for intense training until they too could also become a Shadow Warrior.

No, they couldn't risk this Boba Fett escaping and killing more of their highly trained warriors. But Bella, Luke and Han were not as lucky as Boba and Vader. Bella was a petite woman and she didn't look so dangerous as she usually did with a blaster in each of her hands while she stood in attack position. Though she could look very ferocious when she was awake, the same could not be said for her while she was asleep.

Han looked easy enough to handle, and Luke, still just a boy, obviously didn't pose any threat to them.

The group of shadow warriors went up to each of the five sleeping people and held a gas up to their noses. This was a sleeping gas. It would cause Vader and Boba to stay asleep so that they would not be able to wake up and come to the rescue of their companions, and Luke, Han, and Bella now couldn't wake up during the trip to the Volcano Lair…

* * *

His senses came to him slowly. Vader couldn't understand why it was taking so much effort for him to wake up. He sat up and opened his eyes, forcing himself to stop feeling so sleepy. With the Force, he cleared his mind, then did a quick survey of the room. When he felt only one other presence in the room, he stopped his survey and looked around at where the others were sleeping.

He saw only Boba Fett. Bella, Luke and Han were nowhere to be found. He wouldn't have been so worried if he had been able to feel their presence somewhere in the house… but he didn't. They were nowhere on the premises.

"Fett, wake up!" Vader said urgently, giving him an unkindly hard shove with the Force.

"What? What is it?" the bounty hunter asked sleepily. Apparently, he too was having some difficulty waking up.

"Luke, Han Solo and your wife are missing."

This got Boba up. He sat up so suddenly, it even surprised Vader. Boba then began looking around frantically. But as Vader already knew, they were nowhere to be found.

"What happened? Where did they go!?" Boba asked, almost in a desperate voice. Vader had never seen the legendary bounty hunter react this much.

Vader meditated for a second, trying to figure out what had happened last night when they had been asleep. "I'm afraid that they have been kidnapped by the Shadow People," he said at last.

"But how?" Boba asked. "We barricaded the first two floors. There's no way that they could have gotten in."

Vader nodded absently, searching around the room for an answer to the question. "I don't know how they did it. But that is not important right now. We must find them before they kill Luke, Bella, and Han. Do you remember the way?"

"No," Boba said regrettably. "I was drugged the whole way there. But then I may be able to find my way. When I escaped I think I remember where I went. All I've got to do is re-trace my steps."

* * *

A throbbing headache woke Han up. He groaned and held his hand to his head, wondering how he'd ended up with a headache so early in the morning. When he opened his eyes, he suddenly noticed that he wasn't in the library anymore.

Instead of the spacious, three-story high library, he found himself in a small square room with old stone walls. The floor was all dirty. At second glance he realized that the floor was hard packed dirt. Opposite of the wall that he was sitting up against was what appeared to be a very thick, solid door. Near the top of the door was a tiny window five inches up and five inches across with metal bars.

He didn't know whether to be happy or upset when he realized that Luke was also in the room. But he knew for _sure_ that he was upset when he realized that Bella Fett was also imprisoned with them. That woman was the very definition of annoying.

Luke and Bella were still asleep, so Han reached out and shook them. "Hey guys, wake up. Quick!"

Hearing the urgent tone in his voice, the other two slowly woke up and began looking around, then back at Han as if for an explanation.

"What happened? Where are we!?" Luke demanded of his friend.

"Yeah, what'd you do?" Bella asked.

"_I_ didn't do _anything!_" Han declared, glaring at the woman bounty hunter. "But I think we've been captured by the Shadow People."

"What!?" Luke yelled in a rather high-pitched voice. "How!?"

"I don't know," Han said, shaking his head. "They must have taken us last night when we were asleep."

"No kidding?" Bella said with a mix of calm and annoyance. "I blame you."

"How could you blame me?" Han said. "I was asleep, just like you. How was I to know that they were going to make it through our barricade. If you want to blame someone, then blame Vader! He's the one who had the bright idea about the barricade."

Bella rolled her eyes, and quieted down.

Meanwhile, Luke still had an argument left in him. "Han… why didn't you stop me from talking you into letting us come here?"

Han opened his mouth, but no sound came out. Luke was blaming _him?_ "Hey kid, I wasn't the one who wanted to go through Obi-Wan's stuff. If you hadn't done that, then we wouldn't have ever found out about Kayoa, and we never would have come here!"

"Whoa, so now it's _my_ fault!?" Luke cried, standing up.

Han stood up as well. "Yeah, I think it is!"

Bella stood up as well. "Well I think it's both of your faults! 'Cause if you hadn't come here, then Boba never would have wanted to come after you guys to warn you about those stupid Shadow People!"

Luke and Han turned to face her. "Stay out of this!"

Suddenly, the cell door opened and a few dark cloaked figures came into the room. "The Shadow Queen has expressed complaint over the noise that you are causing here. Until your Redeeming Ceremony, you will have to be put into separate cells."

Han stepped back, his hands held out in front of him in protest. "Whoa, _'Redeeming Ceremony?_' '_Separate cells_?' Why!?"

The Shadow Guards continued to move forward. "In separate cells, you will not be able to argue and cause disturbance to the Shadow Queen's tranquil silence."

Two of the shadow guards grabbed Luke and began dragging him out. Han rushed forward, but two other guards held him back. "Luke!"

Luke kicked and struggled in vain. "Han!"

"Luke!"

Soon Han found himself locked alone in the cell. Bella had been taken to her own cell and so had Luke. Han regretted arguing with the kid now. It wasn't his fault. Han should have known better than to let him come here. Now all there was left to do was wait. Wait and puzzle over the definition of a _"Redeeming Ceremony"_ and who this _"Shadow Queen"_ was.

* * *

Luke was thrown into a cell not unlike the first one he had been in with Han and Bella. But now he was alone, and this was much worse. At least with the other two, he had people to be with and talk to. Now he was alone. There was no one to talk to.

No one but himself.

His mind kept drifting back to yesterday when Vader and his troops first showed up at the house. Luke had tried to get to Han, but instead he had run right into Vader.

"_He is my son."_

That was what Vader had said. Up till now, Luke had been able to keep his mind busy with other things but now… now there was nothing but silence. And silence wasn't very good at distracting someone.

He didn't want Vader to be his father. Back when they had first settled down on Riveria when he was little, Luke still remember those nightmares he had had of Darth Vader finding him and killing him without mercy. Those nightmares had slowly drifted away, and he thought no more of them.

But today, they came back to haunt him. Vader was his father? His _father?_

Suddenly, something triggered Luke's memory. He was in the hidden room behind the bookshelf in the library. He had grabbed hold of a small silver handle and one of his father's memories entered his mind.

"_It's a mini-lightsaber…"_

The lightsaber! He had put the small, knife-sized lightsaber in his pocket! Luke reached into his pocket, and sure enough, it was still there!

"Yes!" Luke whispered in triumph.

Pushing a small button, he activated it, and a small blue blade ignited in his hand. Luke smiled and cautiously made his way toward the door. Looking through the small, five-inch window, he made sure that there was no one around. Once he was positive that the coast was clear, he dug the lightsaber knife into the door lock until it completely melted away.

He tried it. Yes! The door opened with ease. Grinning at his good luck, Luke crawled out and closed the door once again so anyone passing by his cell would think he was still in there.

Luke tip-toed down the dark dungeon, looking for Han or Bella's cell. Just when he thought he'd spotted it, a hand clamped over his mouth, and strong arms belonging to one of the shadow guards pulled him back. Luke's muffled cries were lost in the big gloved hand.

"You will soon learn the consequence of attempting to escape from redemption," a mono-toned voice said.

Luke was pulled toward some stairs and on two floors up. The next hall he found himself in was much nicer than the dungeon halls. Dark, black marble floors stretched out ahead of him. Great, giant pillars of the same black marble extended to the ceiling. It gave a dark and despairing feeling.

At the end of the hall where to double doors lined by two more pillars and a guard on either side of the door. At Luke and the shadow guard's approach. The door was opened to reveal a large rich looking room.

Their was a pillar in each corner of the room. Tapestries hung all over the walls. Straight ahead at the far end of the room were two stairs. At the top was a lush looking throne…

… and standing up from it was the Shadow Queen.

* * *

**A/N: Cliffhanger! I hope this chapter was satisfactory. More surprises in store, but you must ****review!**

**So ready… set… go!!!**


	16. The Ceremony

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, you guys. They make me happy.**

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**Chapter Sixteen: The Ceremony**

Luke stood frozen in place at the sight of the Shadow Queen. He had never seen a person with such a feeling of despair surrounding her. She wore a long black dress with black robes covering all of her skin except for her face. Her skin was very white, but her eyes were dark and frightening.

The guard who had led Luke into the room went down on his knee and forced Luke to do the same. "My Queen," the shadow guard said. "This boy was just found trying to escape his redemption."

For the first time, the Shadow Queen stared right at Luke. She looked at him, as if studying his motives. Luke felt like she could see right into his mind. Finally, she spoke.

"Leave us," she said. Her voice was full of command and authority and never wavered. "Await outside for further orders."

"Yes, My Queen." With a final bow, the guard stood up and left the room. Luke watched the doors close behind him. He was alone in front of the queen… he didn't like this. For some reason, he stayed on his knees.

"Why do you seek to escape redemption?" the Queen said, coming closer to him. She asked this as if she already knew what the answer was.

Luke wished his voice didn't tremble as much as it did. "I… well; I don't exactly know what you mean when you say 'redemption.'"

The Queen was now pacing around him. Luke wished he could sink into the ground by the way her eyes pierced into him. Still, he stayed kneeling. He was afraid that if he stood up, she would do something terrible.

"A redemption ceremony is when you are allowed the privilege to leave this life and go on to the Afterlife of Peace."

Luke scrunched his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

The Queen finished her observation of him and began walking back to her throne. "Have you not seen the Lava River?"

Luke's eyes widened. "You mean you're going to throw me into the lava!? But I'll die!"

The Queen's voice remained mono-tone as if she were used to people saying this. "Yes, but through death you will freed from your miseries. You will no longer have to worry about anything."

"Yeah, 'cause I'll be dead!" Luke exclaimed. "I don't want to die."

The Queen shook her head. "You are young and, unfortunately, do not understand such things. Guards!" The guard that had left them along with the two guards who stood outside the throne room opened the doors and came in. "This one is ready. Take him and proceed with his redemption ceremony."

"No!" Luke cried. He tried to avoid the guards, but they were too quick and soon began dragging him out of the room. "No!"

"There it is," Boba said. He pointed at the large volcano that stood up high in the distance. "The lava river is on the other side of that volcano. And inside it is the Shadow People's lair. We have to get to the dungeons and free the others before they are killed."

"How much time do we have?" Vader asked. He sounded a little more desperate than he wanted to, but the worry about Luke was overwhelming him.

"I don't know," Boba said. "They base their executions on the prisoner's actions. If they are calm, then they may wait a few days. If they are not calm, then… who knows? We may already be too late."

"In that case, we better hurry."

As they walked through the overgrown forest life, Vader couldn't help but worry. Luke was so young. If he died now, a day after Vader had finally found him… that just would be cruel. No, he couldn't let them kill Luke.

These thoughts caused his movements to speed up and Boba had a rough time keeping up with him.

When they reached the volcano, finding an entrance wasn't a problem. There were four Shadow People guarding the entrance. Vader ignited his lightsaber, and Boba charged up his blaster. They silently nodded at each other, then emerged from the woods out into the open and attacked the guards.

Vader had no trouble taking out the guards with his lightsaber, and Boba, trained to do this sort of stuff had no problems either. As soon as the guards were dead, they rushed into the volcano lair.

"Where do we go from here?" Vader asked his companion.

Boba looked around so he could get a sense of direction. "The cells are this way," he said, taking a left turn. "That's are best bet as to where they are."

…

Bella looked around her cell for something she could use to unlock the door. She didn't want to stick around here long enough to get thrown into the lava. She searched her pockets, but of course they had been emptied. Except for…

Bella turned over the bottom part of her pants to reveal a hidden pocket. She tried it, and sure enough, a long strip of metal met her hands. She took it out and examined it.

It was something she had taken from one of her bounties not long ago. She didn't know why she had kept it. But maybe she could use it to unlock the door.

Bella studied the key hole then bent and shaped the metal until it looked like it could fit. Then she tried it. Her face scrunched up in concentration as she moved it around in the lock. Finally, she heard a little clicking sound. She tried the door, and sure enough, it had been unlocked.

Bella put the metal strip back in her pocket. Who knows? She may need it again some time.

When she came out into the hall she was torn as to which way to go. One side of the hall led to freedom, and the other side of the hall led to Han and Luke's cells. She quickly decided on freeing the other two. After all, they were all a team now. They had to stick together.

The first cell she came to was Han's. She unlocked it with the metal strip then opened the door. Inside she found Han banging his head against the wall.

"Am I interrupting anything?"

Han whirled around at the sound of her voice. "Bella! How did you escape?"

Bella held up the key and motioned for him to hurry. "Come on, we still have to free Luke."

Han didn't need any encouraging. He stood up and joined Bella in the hall. Apparently, she had seen where Luke had been put, so Han just followed her. But when they got there and unlocked the door, they found the cell to be empty.

"Hmm, maybe he escaped already," Bella said.

"No, if he had escaped, he would have rescued _us_," Han said.

Bella sighed in annoyance. "He's a frightened little kid. I wouldn't blame him if he ran off as soon as he got himself free."

Han was angry now. "Luke isn't like that!"

"As much as I'd love to argue with you," Bella said sarcastically. "We still have to get out of here."

"Not without Luke, we're not."

…

Luke was led through many corridors until they came to a huge circular room with a huge open doorway. He was taken through the open doorway and onto a platform that extended over the lava river.

Now Luke had been struggling all the way there, but now, a new desperation overcame him. He _had_ to escape! He _couldn't_ die!

The lava river roared below him. The steam came up and hit him in the face. The river was just waiting to claim him.

He struggled as much as he could, but in vain. With a shove from one of the shadow guards, Luke came to the edge of the platform. He wanted to run back, but the way was blocked.

The guard extended his hand and pushed him again. Luke lost his balance…

… and he fell.

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**A/N: Oh you guys, I feel so evil right now! **

**Reivew!!!**


	17. The Unexpected

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! Keep it up!**

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: The Unexpected**

_**Meanwhile…**_

Boba finally found his way to the dungeons. Vader reached out with the Force, but he couldn't feel anyone's presence but their own.

"They are not here," Vader said.

"What?"

"They're not here," Vader repeated. "If they were, I would be able to feel them, but I can't."

"Uh-oh. That means they either escaped, which is unlikely, or they are being thrown into the lava!"

"We must hurry," Vader said as calmly as possible. (He felt anything but calm.)

Boba nodded and led at a running pace to where he remembered the lava river to be. At first he thought he knew where he was going, but soon came another corridor, and another, and they all looked the same. At this point, he began second guessing himself.

Boba stopped walking and paused.

"What is it?" Vader asked.

"I think I'm lost," Boba admitted.

"Lost!? Of all times for you to get lost! They could be executing my son right _now!_"

Vader couldn't help himself when he overreacted. With each passing second, it was another second that Luke was in danger.

"Okay, okay, I think it may be this way," Boba said, turning to the left."

Vader reached out and grabbed him. "If you're wrong, you will pay dearly."

"There's no time to argue," Boba said. Apparently he didn't mind receiving threats, even when it was from Darth Vader.

They started off once again at a slightly faster pace. It was because of this that they nearly ran into a shadow guard.

The guard yelled in surprise at seeing them there, but Vader reached out and grabbed the man by his neck and held him up in the air.

"Where did you put the prisoners? Where is my son!?"

The man choked and gurgled as he spoke. "I… I don't know whi… which prisoner… you… you are re… referring… to…"

"The small blonde boy!" Vader said, giving a quick, yet accurate description.

"He… he's… dead."

"_What?_" Vader asked breathlessly. With a huge wave of anger, he crushed the man's neck and threw the dead body across the hall. Vader stood very still.

Dead? His young child _dead?_ _DEAD!?_ Somehow he couldn't come to grips with the reality of such a thought. He couldn't be dead. Vader had just found him… no… NO! He never even had time to get to know Luke. And now he was dead. Just like that. It was Vader's fault. He let himself fall asleep when he knew he should have stayed awake and watched the boy. Because of him, his son was dead… and so was Padme. Everything was his fault.

Fett didn't want to say anything. He knew that the shock of his son's death would anger Vader. Truth be told, this situation was a little awkward for him. He didn't know what to do. But he couldn't let them stand there in silence forever. He had to find Bella. She may be dead too!

"Um… Vader?" Vader came out of his daze and looked down at the bounty hunter. "We still need to find Bella and Han."

Vader didn't want to go rescue them. He had already been too late for his son. No one else in the galaxy mattered to him.

"Vader, Han is Luke's best friend. You _have_ to rescue _him_." A pause, and then, "Luke would have wanted you to."

He was right. If he couldn't save his son, the least he could do was save his son's friend. Luke _would_ have asked him to do that… if he were here.

"Very well, Fett. Lead the way."

…

Han and Bella were completely lost. They had given up arguing because they were sick of it, and now they were running aimlessly through the volcano lair without even the slightest idea on how to get out, much less find Luke.

Han was about to say that he blamed Bella for getting them lost when suddenly he saw Vader and Boba Fett!  
Normally, Han would be running _away_ from the Dark Lord of the Sith and the most dreaded bounty hunter in the universe. But right now, it was a more than welcome sight. Both Bella and Han ran toward them.

Boba and Bella hugged and Han looked around, hoping that they had found Luke. When he didn't see him, he asked.

"Where's Luke?"

Boba and glanced at Vader. He didn't want to be the one to tell Han that his best friend was dead. But he needn't have worried.

"He's dead," Vader said flatly.

Han's eyes grew wide and he shook his head. "No. No _way_ is that kid dead! He's… he's _Luke!_ Luke can't die!"

"Nevertheless, he is," Vader said.

Han lifted his head up high. "I won't believe it until I _see_ the kid with my own eyes!"

"Lava kind of destroys any hope of seeing his body," Boba said.

"But… dead. He can't be!"

But the more he said it, the more he felt that it was useless to argue with the truth.

…

When Luke tripped, he fell for a few meters. Then suddenly, he landed on something hard. He looked up and realized that he was on the back of an open cockpit speeder.

Luke climbed to where the seats where up ahead and slid into the passenger seat next to the driver.

"Who are you?" Luke asked.

"I'm Leia," the girl answered. She appeared to be around his age.

"Well, thank you, you just saved my life."

"Any time," Leia said.

When Luke realized that she was leaving the Volcano Lair, he stopped her.

"Wait! We have to go back!"  
"Why!? So you can die!?"

"No," Luke said in a voice that meant to say, _"duh, only and idiot would think I'm doing that."_ "My friends are back there. I need to rescue them!"

Leia sighed and brought the speeder around and began driving toward the volcano again. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she muttered.

…

When they got back to the volcano, Leia landed on the platform that Luke had fallen off of. It was the only place she could land. As soon as they landed, Luke jumped out and began running back to the dungeons, followed closely by Leia.

As they ran, Luke couldn't help but ask her, "How did you get here?"

Leia paused, then spoke. "Back home, I kept having nightmares. I don't remember them clearly, but the things I _did_ remember were something about Kayoa, these weird dark cloaked people, and you. I told my father about the dreams. When they didn't go away, he decided that I was meant to be here. Apparently, I was."

Luke and Leia were so caught up in their conversation that they didn't realize that they were running in the wrong direction. Suddenly, they found themselves in some open-spaced room. With no doors, just open passage ways on each side of the room.

As soon as Luke realized his mistake, he tried to run back out. But as he tried to follow Leia, a hand suddenly caught his shoulder in a death grip. He turned around to see whose hand it belonged to.

It was the Shadow Queen. For the first time, Luke couldn't help but think that she looked familiar.

She was much stronger than she looked. Soon she had his arm secured in her hold and with her other hand, she held a knife at his throat.

When Leia rushed toward them, the queen stopped her. "Don't move, or I will kill your friend right here."

Leia froze where she was. "What do you want?"

The queen never paused. "No one shall escape their redemption."

"What redemption!?" Luke demanded as he tried to squirm his way out of her grip. "You throw people into lava. Not much of a redemption if you ask me."

"Well I _didn't_ ask you, so keep quiet," the queen said in an icy voice.

…

Vader felt a sudden urgency in the Force. He changed directions, and the others could do nothing but follow. Soon they came to a wide open room with huge entryways from every direction. But it wasn't the room that everyone was looking at.

"Luke!" Han cried out with joy.

For it was Luke. Unfortunately, some evil looking lady was holding a knife to his throat. Everyone expected Vader to lunge out, kill the woman, and save Luke. But instead he just stared at her.

"Padme?"

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**A/N: Cliffy again! Review!!!**


	18. Nevermore, Evermore

**A/N: You all will be glad to know that you don't have to expect another cliffhanger at the end of this chapter. I'm sorry to say that this story is drawing near to completion. Ah yes, the end… she comes so soon.**

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen: Nevermore, Evermore**

Luke gasped when he heard Vader call the Shadow Queen "Padme." Could she be…?

"I go by Shadow Queen now," she said in dark tones, glaring openly at Vader.

Vader surveyed what had once been his angel. If she was still an angel, she was an angel of darkness. Her clothes were all black, her eyes were dark. She didn't look like she had gotten a day older, but the general presence was so cold. As if she wasn't alive.

"I thought you were dead," Vader said almost in an apologizing voice.

The Queen never paused. "I was. But Plagueis brought me back to life."

_Plagueis?_ Vader thought. _Where have I heard that name before?_

Suddenly, a memory resurfaced…

"_Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the wise?" Palpatine asked._

"_No," Anakin said, wondering where Palpatine was taking this._

"_I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midi-chlorians to create life ... He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying."_

_Anakin looked up. "He could actually… save people from death?"_

"But Palpatine said that he was dead," Vader said, coming back to the moment. "His apprentice killed him!"

The queen smiled slyly. "Apparently he was wrong." Still holding the knife at Luke's throat, she continued on to tell her story. "I was dead for six days after my funeral. Then suddenly I felt life come into my soul once again. He brought me back. Once I was awakened from death, he told me that the galaxy had become evil. I found this to be true, so I found a way to redeem them. As I will redeem you too."

She finished with her story and waited for a response.

"Is Darth Plagueis still alive?" Vader asked, growing fearful.

"Of course not," the queen said. "I found him to be very evil as well. So in his sleep, we took him to the lava river and redeemed him."

"You mean you _killed_ him," Han corrected her.

"I know what I mean. He was _redeemed_… and now it is your turn."

Vader shook his head. "No, Padme…"

"I am not Padme!" she denied.

"Yes, you are," Vader said, trying his hardest to convince her. He looked around for something… _anything_ to prove to her that what he was saying was true.

While this was going on, Luke reached into his pocket to bring out the mini-lightsaber in the hopes of getting himself free from this woman… whether she was his mother or not, he did not wish to be "redeemed" again.

But she caught his movement and held up his hand and suddenly froze when she saw what he held. A memory came back to her…

"_Ani, stop playing with those tools and come to bed."_

_Anakin sighed. _"_Padme, can't you just go to bed without me? I'll be there in a second."_

_Padme rolled her eyes and gave an exasperated laugh... "Anakin! What are you trying to build, anyway?"_

_Anakin, held up a small, silver device. It looked like a miniature handle for something._

"_It's a miniature lightsaber." He said this with pride as he held up the lightsaber he'd created. "It functions just like any regular lightsaber, only it can fit in my pocket…"_

"Where did you get that?" she asked. For the first time, her voice sounded softer.

"In a hidden room back at the mansion," Luke answered. She continued to look at it, as if she was remembering something.

When Vader saw this little bit of Padme, he latched onto it and said, "Padme please… I'm sorry for what I did. I thought it was the right thing. Come back to the light… please… I… I love you."

Leia's eyebrows went up. She shared a surprised glance with Boba. Bella nudged Han, and Han whistled. "Wow, your Lordship, that's deep."

Normally, Vader would have gotten angry at Han for being sarcastic at a moment like this… but it was because of the moment that he couldn't say anything. The queen let go of Luke who rushed toward the others as fast as he could.

Something that Vader said touched the last little spark of Padme that was left in her. Was it that he'd said that he loved her?

… Or was it because Vader hadn't said it… Anakin had.

The queen began trying really hard to breath. He face slowly began going back to its normal color. Her hair, which was black and straight, began to lighten up and go back to its original brown color. The straightness disappeared into wavy curls. Finally, her legs weakened and she collapsed.

Anakin rushed to her side… Padme was crying.

For a split second, Luke paused. But then he rushed to his mother's side. For the first time, she really looked at him.

"Luke?"

His mother recognized him. Luke was crying too. But it was tears of joy. Padme then looked to her husband.

"Ani?"

"I'm here, Padme," Anakin said. "And I'm not leaving.

This would have been a very nice moment if a loud rumbling hadn't been heard, followed by the room shaking. Anakin, Luke and Padme stood up and rushed to the others.

"What's happening!?" Leia exclaimed.

"The volcano is erupting!" Boba declared.

"Who would build a home in the center of a volcano, I ask you!" Han said, still having time to be sarcastic.

"Come on! We have to get out of here!" Padme said.

They ran to the entrance, but suddenly, the arch collapsed, blocking the way completely. The same thing happened to the other three arches. Anakin reached for his lightsaber, and suddenly realized that it wasn't at his side.

"Nobody move!" Anakin commanded. "I've lost my lightsaber."

"Forget that!" Luke said. "We're stuck!"

"I blame Han," Bella said.

"Oh don't even _go_ there!" Han yelled.

This went on for a few seconds until Luke yelled, "STOP! We are stuck in a palace built in the middle of an erupting volcano and all you two can do is ARGUE!?"

Suddenly a blue lightsaber came through the rock blocking their path. Luke yelped in surprise at the unexpected blade that had missed his face by inches.

The rocks were finally cut through and in came Obi-Wan and Chewbacca!

"Did someone call for a rescue?" Obi-Wan asked grinning.

"About time!" Han exclaimed.

Everyone was thrilled to see Obi-Wan and Chewie there. It couldn't have been better timing. They didn't have time to ask how they got there. The volcano was now erupting in earnest.

They all ran out before they got caved in again. "Follow me!" Obi-Wan said, leading the way. "I know the nearest exit."

Obi-Wan led them through a door that looked as if it was just for a closet, and it surprised everyone when it led to another long corridor. At the very end of that they turned right, then left again and soon came to the back exit door.

They got outside, but they weren't out of danger yet. The lava came spurting out of the top of the mountain, and came falling down near their heads. Obi-Wan continued leading the way toward the woods.

They ran for a couple miles until they came to the front of the mansion. Luke, Han, and Leia collapsed on the front stairs in exhaustion and Anakin turned to Obi-Wan.

Obi-Wan spoke first. "Well isn't that interesting? I saved _your_ life that time."

"Yeah, usually it's the other way around, isn't it?" Anakin said. It was the first time he'd used that kind of light humor in years. For a moment, he got serious. "Obi-Wan, I'm sorry about what I did…"

"No apology necessary," Obi-Wan said. He put his hand on his friend's back and smiled. A commotion on the stairs bought their attention.

"Leia!" Padme was saying. "I'm so glad you are safe too!"

"What?" Leia asked, completely baffled.

Padme scrunched her eyebrows together. "You're Luke's twin… didn't you know?"

Anakin turned around to look at Obi-Wan who was backing away slowly. "My daughter!?" Anakin exclaimed.

Padme turned around. "Obi-Wan! You mean you never told them?"

Obi-Wan looked at the eight people who were staring at him: Anakin, Padme, Boba, Bella, Han, Luke, Leia, and Chewie…

"Why is everyone looking at _me?_"

* * *

**Author Note: Please review!!!**


	19. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

After a very awkward conversation, the whole story about spliting the twins came out... Obi-Wan claimed that it was Yoda's idea, therefore, they shouldn't start picking on him.

Shortly after the events on Kayoa, Bella discovered that she was pregnant with hers and Boba's first child. When he was born, they named him Jango, but they call him Jang for short.

Anakin and Padme went back to Riveria with Luke and Leia where they could raise them in peace. Han, Obi-Wan and Chewie lived with them too of course. They made a huge discovery there when they realized that the waters on Riveria had great healing powers. After a month, Anakin was able to shed his armor. Two months after that, his hair was finished growing back. He still has some scars, and he looks a few years older, but he still looks handsome.

During their happy lives on Riveria, Obi-Wan and Anakin taught Luke and Leia the ways of the Force. Luke caught on faster than Leia, and Leia said that was fine because she would rather stick to politics which her mother taught her very well.

Yoda was invited to come live with them, and he accepted. With Yoda there teaching Luke as well, he became a very strong Jedi learner. Don't worry, he still had time to hang out with Han and get into trouble... yeah they still get grounded a lot.

When Luke and Leia were nineteen, the whole group joined the Rebel Alliance. Mon Mothma was more than happy to accept the Skywalkers, and she was overjoyed to find that Padme was alive.

With Yoda, Obi-Wan and Anakin as fully trained Jedi, the Alliance began doing very well. Luke continued his Jedi training, but to the Rebellion, he just decided to be a regular pilot, and Han said he couldn't have made a better choice.

They all work for the Alliance now, fighting to restore peace and justice to the galaxy…

_**The End**_

**A/N: Thank you all so much for reading this story and providing many helpful and inspirational reviews. They have really helped me in the writing of this story. I'm very glad that I've finished yet another one of my stories. I hope to be able to finish a few others before school starts... but I'm not making any promises.**

**Thanks again, you've all been great readers!**


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